Staying Safe at VT!

Safety’s a big topic here at VT, obviously, as it is at any college. As long as you know how to keep yourself safe, though, you’ll be golden.

Dorm Safety
First of all, and your RA will tell you this: tailgating (that is, letting someone follow you into the dorm) is frowned upon. Really, you shouldn’t let anyone follow you in unless you know him or her and know he/she lives in the dorm. If someone’s outside and says they’re going in to meet someone, they can wait until that person comes to let them in. While a lot of people look the other way, know that ultimately, whomever you let into the building is your responsibility.

Fire alarms. They will happen. If you’re in a dorm like Lee or Pritchard, expect that they’ll happen often, generally in the wee hours of the morning. Most other dorms will have maybe two or three a year. Slusher was bad my freshman year, but apparently last year it was fairly quiet. Anyway, when you hear the alarm go off, stop whatever you’re doing, turn off the lights, lock your door, and head outside. An RA will be around when you get outside and tell you how far back you have to be. Usually these are short, 10-15 minute affairs and then you can get back to whatever you were doing. If it’s the middle of the night, sorry, you’ll still have to get up and get out; if you’re caught staying in during a fire alarm, you will be given a JR (Judicial Referral, I’ll cover those when school starts).

Keep a little first aid kit in your room. It doesn’t have to be one of those intense kits you see at Wal-Mart, just a little box or freezer bag of things like band-aids, a small tube of Neosporin, some medical tape and gauze pads, and whatever your preferred brand of pain-killer is. I like to have a variety of band-aids (I’ve even got a few “butterfly” bandages) and also a tube of After-Bite. You will get at least one bug bite in your first few weeks at Tech, and I some how manage to get spider bites year-round.

Lock your door whenever you leave the room. Thefts happen, and it can be anything from markers to your laptop (if you got a laptop lock, use it). If you’re alone in the room and the door if closed, check the peephole before just letting someone in.

Campus/Town Safety
This mostly has to do with nighttime, and a lot of it is common sense. Stay in well-lit areas, and try not to wander around alone. Besides, that black belt you got in Tae Kwon Do was in the 7th grade, and it’s been a few years since then.

I’ll start with Safe Ride. You can contact them by calling 540-231-SAFE (easy, right?) and they’ll get your name, where you are, where you’re going, and give you an approximate time of when the van will be in your neighborhood. This only works if you’re on campus, and people mostly use it going to and from the Cage, though I’ve known people to take it from labs to the dorm or even from one dorm to another. They start running at about 6 PM and go through to the morning (I guess about 6 AM). They also have a booth out at the entrance of the Cage, so if you’re in the area, you can just walk in. Priority goes to single riders and groups of two, as well as people going a bit of a distance. Also, be aware that the wait time goes up in rain or snow, simply because no one wants to be out in bad weather.

You may or may not have noticed the blue light phones around campus. On each of these emergency poles there is a phone and a red button. Using either of these will alert the VT Police to the location, so if you feel threatened and you’re near one, don’t hesitate to use it. The Police want you safe.
As you’re in college, you are going to want to go out and have a good time occasionally. In those instances, you are able to take the BT to and from nearly all apartment complexes; on Friday and Saturday nights, they run until 2 AM (midnight all other nights). If you miss the last run, call the Hooptie Ride (540-449-DRIV), or make sure you’ve got a DD for the night.

Thus ends my primer of safety at VT! And yes, I promise to post about football tickets the instant hokietickets.com has information.

Oh yeah: If your RA or another RA in your building offers an opportunity to take the RAD class, definitely go for it. It's mostly aimed at women, but I think it's a good course for anyone who wants a refresher in basic self-defense.