MSU Police Deputy Director John Prush said the phones were first installed on campus in the 1980s at the request of the Women’s Advisory Committee to help students feel more secure when walking alone.
Most of the phones constructed in the ‘80s still stand today, but many have been swapped out for newer, better versions equipped with public address systems police can use in an emergency.
These phones, as well as the monthly phone bills they incur, are paid for by funds generated from parking violations on campus, Prush said.
“When we need to broadcast a message to campus we now have the capability to do so,” Prush said. “On both Cherry Lane and Shaw Lane there are new phones that can broadcast. We upgrade where we can and where budget allows.”
Because the phones are operated by AT&T, MSU has no way of monitoring how often the phones are utilized.
MSU police said the most recent time the phones were utilized to call 911 was May 24, when a female MSU student called to alert police to a domestic assault between her and her boyfriend.
While the newer phones are useful in some instances, Interim Director of the Women’s Resource Center Jayne Schuiteman said the phones might not be so useful doing what they were originally designed to do — aid individuals in “stranger-rape” situations.
Schuiteman said the majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, making the green light phones less useful in a majority of attacks.
“The phones might be somewhat outdated since most people carry cell phones, and I doubt that in an emergency a person would think to run to one of those phones,” Schuiteman said. “At the same time, when green light phones are used, they pinpoint someone’s location, which cell phones can’t do.”
Schuiteman said the phones are useful in creating a feeling of safety for students, and that the perception of safety is important in a campus environment.
Chair of the Women’s Advisory Committee, Gretchen Neisler, was a student at MSU during the early ‘90s and said in her experience students used the green light phones to prank call their friends in the dorms. Although she said she wouldn’t want to see the green light phones removed, more education and awareness is needed to make campus a safer place for students, especially women.
Neisler said more focus needs to be put on preparing staff on how to handle harassment situations.
“I think there’s a lot being done in making campus a secure environment,” Neisler said. “I was sexually assaulted in Shaw Hall and the training since then has become much more robust ... There will never be a perfect system and we can always do more, but our campus is very safe.”
