I am a freshman at WSU who was told about how secure campus is at orientation. They emphasized how much they prioritize student safety and the quick campus police response time, which I can say is pretty good. Campus police are great but its not enough. For the money we are paying for tuition we should feel safe in our school buildings. 

On Monday December 13th, A few friends and I were studying in State Hall before class and finals. We were sitting outside the first floor student lounge as we wanted a quieter place to focus. A girl stumbles out of the lounge crying and on the verge of a panic attack. she ran up to us and told us that there was a man in the lounge who sexually harassed her. My friends were completing a timed assignment so I got up with her and asked if she wanted the police. I called campus police and took the girl to the bathroom away from prying eyes and told her to breath and drink some water and asking her what happened. She told me the man came up to her from behind with his pants down and touched her. I was shocked. I thought at first he was a student at Wayne State but she told me he didn't look like a student (but may have been a worker). We left the bathroom and some students who witnessed everything and were in the room with her, told us that he was coming down the hallway towards her so we all walked out and ran to the cop cars we saw pulling up.

My friends that stayed behind had seen him run past after he saw the police come into the building and identified him. They thankfully arrested him and I saw that he was a grown man who may have been a worker or may have just walked in from the street. State Hall has no (visible) cameras, no screeners, no security. Nothing is protecting us from threats walking in. It was broad daylight and something like this happened. If it had been later and less students around I don't want to think about what could've happened.

I am creating this petition to bring awareness at how little security we have all over campus. The campus COVID screeners are the only thing we need to get into some buildings and those are easily faked or someone could use a guest screener to walk in. Old Main, DeRoy Auditorium, and State Hall are just a few of the buildings I've had classes in that have nothing preventing threats from walking in. We deserve to feel safe in our own school and this is unacceptable and should not have happened.