Campus Safety. Answering the call!

Friday, September 12, 2025

Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

As I will explain a couple of paragraphs later, it is ironic that as I was starting to write my message for this week, the shocking news of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk hit the airwaves, defying how I had started my message “… the university campuses are safer than ever.”

To be candid, the news triggered an ever-present concern for me, and perhaps for many university leaders – campus safety and security. In fact, for me, safety concerns rank right up with student mental health and the long-term viability and relevancy of the university. The most recent news notwithstanding, our campus, like many campuses, is safer than any time before, thanks to the diligence and hard work of a dedicated university police department and all the supporting security programs and infrastructure.

I still claim that our campus is safer than ever in its history. In fact, we are the proud recipients of the 2025 Campus Safety Impact Award for our Comprehensive Safety Initiative. The national recognition by the Clery Center is a proud milestone for our university, but also a meaningful reminder to continue to build on the important work already underway. September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month, a time for all of us here at S&T to reflect on the importance of safety in fostering student success. In that light, S&T’s Comprehensive Safety Initiative is built on three pillars:

  1. Technology innovation: Our campus has implemented the S&T Safe mobile app that provides direct communication with University Police, virtual escorts, GPS-enabled assistance and emergency alerts. We have also implemented a state-of-the-art security infrastructure with over 400 cameras, a card-access system, and 911 dispatch integration.

  2. Community collaboration: We have built a regional partnership with our local crisis intervention team and 25 local organizations, including law enforcement, health care and social services, to provide trauma-informed, de-escalation-based crisis responses.

  3. Holistic well-being support: Integrated with campus programs such as UCARE, the Behavioral Intervention Team, the Prevention Coalition and our Health and Well-being Committee, our efforts ensure both immediate safety and long-term student support.

In addition to this year’s Clery award, S&T has previously been honored with a place on the Safe Campus Top 25 list and received the Rave Trailblazer Award. Hats off to our University Police Chief Doug Roberts, who has guided our safety and security initiatives since 2017, emphasizing that the program is about creating “a connected, compassionate system where safety, mental health and collaboration come together to protect everyone.”

To our campus leaders, I say, today our foremost priority is ensuring campus safety and security simply because at this critical moment, the task at hand is the essence of empathetic leadership. 

Congratulations to Chief Roberts and to all our campus safety and security staff for the great recognition. We appreciate all your efforts and please know that we know the fact that there are far fewer safety accidents is no accident!

Warmly,

-Mo.
 
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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu