Saint Mary's students met on the lacrosse field Monday afternoon to try out seven different types of portable personal safety alarms.
The event was hosted by Saint Mary's Residence Life and the Belles Against Violence Office (BAVO), an organization devoted to advocating for students affected by sexual assault, stalking and partner or relationship violence. Event organizers said a donor is considering purchasing these alarms for incoming freshmen at Saint Mary's. The event was used to gauge which personal safety alarms were preferred by current students.
Portable personal safety alarms, also commonly referred to as rape alarms or attack alarms, are a self-defense tool used to call attention to an unsafe situation, signal for help or to scare an attacker or potential attacker away from the device’s user. The small devices can typically be put on a keychain with either a small button or pulling mechanism which triggers an extremely loud and ear piercing alarm.
At Monday’s event, attendees had the chance to handle and test out each of the seven alarms available. Students were able to set the alarms off to see how loud they were, see the flashing lights triggered when the alarms go off and get a feel for how to use each device in a dangerous situation. Afterwards, each attendee filled out a form indicating which of the seven was the easiest to use, most aesthetically pleasing, most likely to be used in an emergency by the attendees and which they preferred overall.
Freshman Emma Busk said the event had practical applications for Saint Mary's students.
“I think it’s super informative and a good way to learn about safety, especially being on an all-girls campus and having that walk over from Notre Dame, it can get kind of scary," she said. "I think it's good to educate everyone on ways that we can protect ourselves.”
Busk said she's grateful that Saint Mary's is informing students of the alarms.
"It's really comforting that they have these events and are able to tell us about what we can do and our options,” Busk said.
She said it could be useful for Saint Mary's to collaborate with Notre Dame on safety events in the future and that the event inspired her to consider purchasing a personal safety alarm of her own.
Second-year graduate student Sydney Mullin said she was proud of how seriously Saint Mary's takes safety.
“I pride our campus on being extremely safe. I went to undergrad here and never once was afraid of the outside surroundings of South Bend,” she said.
Ava Kennedy, also a second-year graduate student, said she's glad Saint Mary's is prioritizing safety.
“I think they have lots of things in place that keep students safe. I think they’re doing a good job," she said.
There will be another event testing personal safety alarms in early October for those who were unable to attend on Monday.
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