A new position is helping address student concerns related to campus safety.
Tim Jefferies, who started last fall as the first advocate for student and community safety at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, is charged with facilitating dialogue with students on safety issues related to the campus community, implementing strategies to address such issues and researching best practices to bring to campus 鈥 all while engaging student communities.
鈥淎dvocate is the first word in my title for a reason,鈥 said Jefferies. 鈥淢y job is really to help amplify student voices.鈥
Evolving from the position of campus safety analyst started in fall 2020, the role reports to Sheri Atkinson, the associate vice chancellor for student life, campus community and retention services in Student Affairs.
Jefferies brings with him skills and experience in advocacy, student engagement, emergency planning and procedures, conflict resolution and more. His career has included work as a program supervisor and conflict resolution specialist at Marquette University鈥檚 Center for Peacemaking, an administrator at a Milwaukee high school for students who have committed serious breaches of conduct, and an addiction counselor for a behavioral health clinic in Long Beach, Washington.
Jefferies graduated with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in social work in 2011 from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and a master鈥檚 degree in educational policy and foundations in 2021 from Marquette.
At 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, Jefferies has an office on the fourth floor of the Memorial Union, but he is not there much. He鈥檚 been out introducing himself to student leaders, meeting students at the community and resource centers, and connecting with staff to learn from campus resources like Counseling Services and the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs.
鈥淚鈥檝e been trying to show students that showing up is important enough to keep doing it,鈥 Jefferies said. He has high praise for the students he has met in his first nine months. 鈥淭he students here are so involved and engaged,鈥 he said.
Jefferies started Nov. 1 in the same calendar year that stabbings in the city killed two, including a 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis student, and injured a third person; protests and counterprotests surrounded controversial speakers; and the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and war in Gaza inflamed tensions (and this spring led to an encampment on the Quad for six weeks).
The safety issues students have shared, Jefferies said, most often were related to psychological and emotional safety, including mental health; discrimination and harassment including freedom of expression, surveillance and doxing; transportation including the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Police Department鈥檚 free service; and lighting. Others were physical safety; sexual, relational and gender-based harassment and violence; event safety; concerns related to race and ethnicity; alcohol and drugs; disability; and housing.
鈥淔or me, safety is defined by whatever students include in it,鈥 Jefferies said about his work. 鈥淒ifferent marginalized student communities have unique definitions of what safety means to them.鈥
鈥淗ow you ensure people feel safe is something I roll around,鈥 he added.
With a focus on proactive efforts, Jefferies will help students take their concerns to staff, committees and campus leadership. He meets regularly with Chief Joe Farrow of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Police Department and partners with other leaders on campus too.
鈥淢y role is to bring the student voice into those spaces with more frequency and more equity,鈥 he said.
Jefferies said part of what he鈥檒l be doing is also making students aware of existing resources and initiatives. For example, Chancellor Gary S. May announced in October that the campus is to continue to improve security infrastructure including expanded outdoor lighting, more emergency call boxes, additional security cameras and expanded card access to buildings.
The services and resources on campus are 鈥渕ind-blowing,鈥 Jefferies said. 鈥淭here are resources under every rock, but not everyone knows about them. I feel a really big responsibility to be a walking Rolodex of resources.鈥
Jefferies鈥 first projects include working with Strategic Communications to consolidate into one website information for students on personal and emergency safety. He has also met with the city of Davis so he can highlight well-lit routes for students moving around the city at night.
As he has gotten to know the campus, Jefferies said, he has found 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis staff to be supportive. 鈥淧eople have been wildly collaborative in wanting to create safety for students.鈥