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The Department of Public Safety at Quinnipiac is available for students every day. On the Mount Carmel campus, the office is located in the Irma residence hall on the first floor. 

Students are often very busy and tend to stay up late studying around campus and some students do not feel safe walking late at night by themselves. The Arnold Bernhard Library is open 24 hours a day and is staffed with a public safety officer after midnight.  

“One night I was coming home from the library, and it was really cold and I personally didn’t feel like walking back to my dorm because I live far…I lived past Larson,” said sophomore Joo Lim. “I didn’t know how I felt, but, I knew public safety would be more than willing. When they picked me up we had a great conversation and they were really sweet about it, and I kept calling them after and they never said no.”

Quinnipiac public safety does do a vetting process when students, staff, faculty, and visitors enter onto Quinnipiac campuses. They must either show a Quinnipiac I.D. or parking decal. Visitors must park in the North lot and tell the guard at the booth why they are here.

However, even with these precautions, there are still concerns about people coming onto Quinnipiac’s campuses. 

In the last year, there have been two incidents where someone has either entered a residence hall or walked onto campus when they shouldn’t have.

In November 2018, Sean Brozek, who is not a Quinnipiac student, staff or faculty member, walked onto campus and entered ledges, a first-year residence hall. Brozek banged on a student’s door demanding she open it. In April 2019, public safety also responded to an incident where Matthew Allen, walked onto campus and was seen snorting ‘bang energy powder’ in the lower cafeteria.

Public Safety Sgt. Greg Guerra recognizes that Quinnipiac’s campuses are open and can’t keep everyone out who shouldn’t be there. 

“We ask the students to be aware of situations where they believe someone is acting suspiciously,” Guerra said. “If they see someone who is a little older, doesn’t look like a student, acting suspicious, looks like they don’t know their way around, we ask them to notify us immediately.”

Even students recognize that not everything can run perfectly.

“Sometimes those are the little things that do happen, and I think to say that, that doesn’t happen at any university is a lie,” Lim said. “I think our university is great, but I don’t think any university is perfect.”

Students should always call public safety when they feel unsafe or if they notice something suspicious. The phone number for Quinnipiac’s Department of Public Safety can be found on the back of all Quinnipiac ID cards (Q-cards).