Nine new free-standing "Code Blue" emergency phones are being installed throughout campus this term, with plans to install up to 40 more over the next several years.
According to Sergeant Rebel Roberts of Safety and Security, the recent installation of these new phones is not in response to any growth of crime at the school, but rather, a follow-up to a 1991 plan to increase the availability of safety phones on campus.
The phones are housed in easily identifiable, slim black towers crowned with blue lights that glow at night and flash when the phone is in use. The towers hold a red button which, when depressed, links the caller to Safety and Security's 24 hour emergency hotline.
Unlike the familiar "blue light" emergency phones, located on the external walls of many campus buildings, the new phones are free-standing, a more expensive feature that makes them much more noticeable and accessible to Dartmouth students and Hanover residents alike.
Eventually, the blue light telephones will be supplanted by the Code Blue phones.
The phones are made by Code Blue, a telephone-manufacturing company that services over two hundred colleges, hospitals, malls, and corporations nationwide.
"[Code Blue] was offering what we felt was a good product, a reliable product that suited our needs," Roberts said.
The new plan for emergency phone installation, formulated by the Facilities Planning Group calls for around 50 Code Blue phones placed around Dartmouth within the next few years.
According to Roberts, College Proctor Robert McEwen "has been a tremendous supporter of the project."
Another aspect of the plan is to incorporate the cost of the new phones into the cost of constructing a new building, such as the Berry Library. Before, the blue light phones were installed on the sides of buildings to reduce cost.
Though only a few of the nine new phones are currently active, all of them should be working by mid-November.
Safety and Security stressed that the phones are for emergencies only. Roberts encouraged students to use them to report injuries, crimes, and suspicious activities.
