In the wake of an on-campus sexual misconduct scandal, students at Central Connecticut are hoping the LiveSafe app can increase their campus safety.

“Whether it’s a sexual harassment case, a stalking case or any type of violent case, students need to know that can feel safe when walking around the campus,” Central junior Steven Barth said. “As a campus community, it is really important that the student body and faculty can walk around the entire campus not feeling in danger.”

With a student enrollment of 12,000, campus-wide safety remains a necessity for Central’s administration, especially with recent action taken place by President Dr. Zulma Toro regarding theater professors Joshua Perlstein and Thomas Delventhal.

“It’s nice to see that the school is finally taking initiative for student safety,” freshman music major Alexis Volpe said. “It is really nice to see President Toro and other faculty change the policy for the school’s sexual misconduct and finally make a change for once. I think the LiveSafe app is another step towards that change, too.”

The university encourages students to download the LiveSafe application to act as another form of communication between CCSU and their students in case of emergencies.

According to the Central website, the LiveSafe mobile app “provides students, faculty and staff with a direct connection to CCSU police so that everyone can easily communicate their safety needs.”

Junior and criminal justice major Erica Kulla believes the LiveSafe app to be a smart idea from the university.

“I think the LiveSafe app is a really good and smart concept for students to have free access to. It is definitely a tool that with help students feel much more safe while on campus, especially with everything that’s been going on recently,” Kulla said. 

The LiveSafe app provides students with certain emergency features in the palms of their hands, such as location sharing with 911, campus police contact, emergency procedures and a safety map.

The app also has a “Sexual Assault Assistance” feature that was added after the initial allegations against the two theater professors and campus outcry. This feature allows students with contacts to Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, the university’s Counseling Center, Student Health Services and the Women’s Center.

Anna Kelly, one of the women who spoke out publicly regarding her personal encounters with Perlstein, expressed how she wishes more students were being taught about the emergency outlets the university provides.

“It seems pretty obvious to me that, in general, when it comes to students’ safety, more need to be educated,” she said. “Reflecting on the wake in the new revelations regarding the school, how suddenly the Women’s Center is visible and recourses are putting themselves forward, word of these outlets are finally being spread forward. But that was never the case before. Unless you are a victim, you don’t really know what is available to you as a student.”

Not only has the sexual misconduct case sparked controversy regarding campus safety, but last year’s arrest of CCSU’s former head of the Office of Student Conduct, Christopher Dukes, for kidnapping and strangulation also has students concerned for their well being while on campus.

“As if the sexual misconduct case wasn’t enough to frighten students, the scandal with Chris Dukes definitely makes things a little more concerning,” education major Bailey Murphy said. “Hopefully the [LiveSafe] app can help ease some students while they’re on campus and other emergency tools as well.”

In addition to the LiveSafe app, students can also access blue lights that are administrated around campus as well. These lights act as another form of public safety for students that indicate a phone for direct assistance to university police for any emergency at any time of night.

“It’s definitely easy to get scared walking around the campus at any time of night, especially by yourself,” Kulla said. “Knowing that the blue lights are spread around campus makes me feel a lot better on top of the LiveSafe App.”