Safety Week begins today with a week filled of safety-related events on campus.

In the past, Safety Week was composed of a series of safety walks, in which students walked around Eastern’s campus at night to make note of potential safety hazards.

This year is the first time Student Government has funded events in conjunction with Safety Week.

Student Body President Levi Bulgar said he sees Safety Week as an opportunity to address safety from a much broader perspective by placing safety concerns on the most dangerous aspects of living on campus.

“After Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, people think of a safety need as school shootings, and those are obviously a major concern,” Bulgar said. “Unfortunately, when you look at the statistics, that is not the No. 1 threat to college campuses.”

Monday

Alcohol safety will be addressed with a “mock kegger” at 7 p.m. today in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“It’s going to be a root beer keg party,” Bulgar said. “It’s going to be a simulation of what an average party would be.”

Gateway Liquors will donate the root beer keg. The simulated party will also have a DJ.

Bulgar said after a certain period of time, the party will break up into groups to address an issue of alcohol safety. The legal ramifications of underage drinking tickets, alcohol poisoning and the new drinking-related laws passed last year will be discussed.

Tuesday

Electricity safety will be the focus of a presentation by Live Line Demo, a company that gives talks and practical demonstrations on the dangers of electricity.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the McAfee South Gymnasium.

“The No. 1 one killer when we’re talking about electricity is the wall outlet in our house,” Bulgar said. “If a student drives into an electrical pole, what do they do? There have been student deaths in the state of Illinois, because there were students who did not know what to do, either they got out when they shouldn’t have or touched something they shouldn’t have.”

Wednesday

Cyber safety, campus safety and women’s safety will all be addressed on Wednesday.

A cyber presentation will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the Arcola-Tuscola Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. Union.

A representative from the Illinois Cyber Crimes division will talk about how to be safe online.

Internet fraud can happen to anyone, Bulgar said. He pointed out the “Eastern greeting card fiasco” in February as an example of how students can be affected by cyber criminals.

A campus safety forum will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Andrews Hall lobby. The event will give students the opportunity to raise the concerns they have about campus safety in general. Student Senate members Mike Hilty and Mike Whildin organized the forum.

A self defense training session will be held at 7 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center to focus on women’s safety. Bulgar said the session would be similar to the self-defense program held by Eastern at the beginning of every semester.

Thursday

Safety Week will finish with the event that started it all: the safety walk.

The walk will start at 7 p.m. at the emergency phone in the middle of the South Quad.

Bulgar said he wants to make this safety walk better and more efficient than those held in previous years.

“Addressing the same issues again and again will only get us so far,” he said. “This time we need to better collect the information.”

Bulgar said the surveys and feedback to be filled out at the conclusion of the walk are important because they make the safety walk “more than just walking for the sake of walking.”

Doug Graham can be reached at 581-7492 or at dtgraham@eiu.edu.

Marcy Peters, a freshman elementary education major, checks her cell phone after class while walking through the second floor south corridor of Coleman Hall Monday afternoon (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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