Student Government’s Campus Safety Week kicks off Monday to raise awareness of UT’s safety services and precautions on campus and to provide students with access to campus resources for personal safety and mental health.

Sunny Sandhu, biology senior and Campus Safety Agency director, said Campus Safety Week has previously revolved around UTPD’s services, but this year’s initiatives focus on student-led programs, such as SURE Walk. 

“We really want to emphasize a lot of different initiatives, but by far the most important is the new and improved SURE Walk,” Sandhu said.

SURE Walk, a volunteer initiative to provide students with an escorted walk home, has now become a joint initiative between SG and UT Parking and Transportation Services, Sandhu said. SURE Walk now has paid employees along with student volunteers.

Campus safety has recently become an issue that many students and parents are worried about. To address this, CSA has sought to introduce knowledge of campus resources through its awareness programs.

The campaign will introduce a new area of focus every night from Oct. 3 to Oct. 6 with events ranging from personal safety to fire prevention.

The awareness week is introducing new initiatives as well, seeking to add on to last year’s program.

“We’re looking to expand our definition of safety to include personal wellness, mental health and sexual safety,” Sandhu said.

Dell Medical School will also be contributing to the personal safety night through their Model Healthy Campus initiative, which seeks to provide a community-based platform for safety integration. The initiative has also been adopted by other campuses to follow.

Sandhu also hopes the week-long events will show both parents and students how campus safety is a priority to the University and show that the CSA is working hard to address the need for a higher security presence. 

“Safety is now a priority,” Sandhu said. “And hopefully it will remain ingrained in our current culture.”