We expect your student’s safety to be your top priority. At the Department of Public Safety, it is definitely ours; it’s in our name! We want to highlight two important safety features, the OWU Alert System and our safety app, Campus Shield. Students are automatically enrolled in the OWU ALERT system, which is a mass notification tool OWU uses in case of an emergency or major impacts on campus operations (like power outages). Your son or daughter can enroll your email or phone to receive notifications. We debuted a campus safety app this year called Campus Shield. The app features a virtual escort, known as Friend Watch, an Emergency Slider to contact our dispatcher, a GPS tracker for our SafeRide program, and more. The Friend Watch feature allows students to select a trusted contact, like a family member, that the app will notify if the student fails to enter their PIN after a timer expires. If location sharing is turned on, the app will show you the real-time location of their phone.
Example: A student is walking from a coffee shop to their dorm alone and sets their timer for 15 minutes. They are diabetic and their blood sugar is low, they’ve become disoriented and don’t enter their PIN by 15 minutes. A parent gets a notice/GPS location for the phone. They call Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Public Safety at 740-368-2222. We go check in on the student, based on the location provided, and we find the student and get them the medical attention they need.
The app is available at Google Play or Apple App Store for student use. To register, students must use their name@owu.edu to be linked to Ohio Wesleyan. Stay safe, Sean Bolender Director of Public Safety
OWU Sponsoring Organization/Office: Department of Public Safety
Contact: Sean Bolender at psafety@owu.edu