Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø

Welcome back to Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø. I’m especially excited to greet Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø’s newest Wildcats, our largest first-year class ever. We’re glad you’re here and ready to start a year full of challenges and personal success.

Although we are proud of our relatively safe environment on all three of our campuses, from time to time there are incidents that warrant our community’s focused attention. I hope you heard about last Friday’s attempted abduction near our campus in Durham. The disturbing incident remains under active investigation. Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø Police are working closely with local law enforcement to increase patrols on and near the Durham campus.

The safety of our students, employees and community members in Durham, Manchester, and Concord is our highest priority. We will continue to do everything we can to safeguard the extended Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø community, but there is also a myriad of ways that you can help yourself and those around you.

When you have to be outside after dark, I encourage you to:

• walk with friends along well traveled and well-lit paths;
• make use of the University’s escort services on the Durham campus (603) 862-1427;
• download the LiveSafe app on your smart phone to interact directly with Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø safety officials and activate a GPS-tagged monitoring feature to let your friends and family know you’ve safely reached your destination.

Most importantly, if you see something that causes you concern about your safety or someone else’s, please bring this to the attention of the police by calling 911. In non-emergency situations call, 862-1427, where our Dispatch Center will ensure follow-up with the appropriate offices on any of our three campuses.

Be smart and look out for your fellow Wildcats. It is all of our responsibility to keep the Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø community as safe as possible. I wish you the best for a wildly successful semester.

Mark W. Huddleston

President, University of Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø