Essence promotes communication

By Melissa Wong

TSC Writer

Officers from the Santa Clara Police Department met with freshmen residents of the Swig and Campisi Residence Halls three weeks ago - far away from the beer kegs or blaring music that usually prompts their visits.

The police officers, along with members of the Associated Students of Santa Clara University and Public Safety encouraged students to be safe and responsible both on and off campus.The meetings were test-runs of a new program called ESSENCE, Encouraging a Successful Social Environment through a Community Effort. Created by ASSCU President Javier Benavidez, Senate Chair Joe McNally and Assistant Dean of Student Life and Leadership Matthew Duncan, the program seeks to advise freshmen of the safety procedures at the university and urges them to respect their fellow neighbors when socializing.

ESSENCE grew out of The Walk-Abouts program in which members of the ASSCU and SCPD visited off-campus housing in the area, encouraging upperclassmen to be good neighbors, especially when throwing parties.

"The reason for ESSENCE was we sought to add a new twist [to the Walk-Abouts] ... bringing the program more so to the freshmen who are as much apart of the community as anybody else, and as much a part of that scene," Benavidez said.

Led by Lieutenant Walter Rees, the police officers in attendance each night discussed everything from student safety to SCPD's zero tolerance policy of underage drinking as well as the consequences of new designer drugs like Ecstasy.

"The reason we spoke to the freshmen class is that they have no history here," Rees said. "They don't understand the rules and the expectations that we, as a community have, so we thought let's get right to the freshmen class as quickly as we can and try to educate them. When they eventually move out of the dorms and off-campus they'll understand where we're coming from."There have been some misunderstandings between students and the police department - students see officers as obstacles in the way of a good time. In his opening remarks to each group of freshmen, Benavidez pointed out that this wasn't the case.

"I encouraged the students to be open-minded," Benavidez said. "The police are not there to quell their social atmosphere but more so to protect their safety. These are individuals who have families and they're human beings. They aren't robots."

In fact, for the Campisi Residence Hall presentation, Benavidez advised the policemen to talk about their personal lives away from work before commenting on police policies and procedures.Freshman Campisi resident Dominic Ricci got a sense of their humanity when he and his friends listened to the hour-long presentation.

"They [the police] didn't try and stand up there and intimidate us or belittle us," Ricci said. "I thought it was nice that they were able to come and talk to us and show us that they do care and they do want to help us."

In order to make sure students receive that help, attendance was mandatory in the residence hall meetings with Residence Assistants taking roll to insure that all students were present. According to Rees, the test-runs were a success. ASSCU and SCPD are looking to expand the program to the entire residence hall community next year so that all students will be advised of safety and their responsibilities as good neighbors.

Rees and the other SCPD officers know that being good neighbors is a two-way street. They frequently try to meet with permanent residents in the area to remind them that they do live in the vicinity of the university and should be tolerant.

According to Rees, SCPD understands that students need time to have fun and blow off steam."We recognize that social activity is a very important part of college life," Rees said. "We're just saying be reasonable when you do it, and be considerate of others."