News
New Director of Campus Safety
By Claire Chang ’20
April 6, 2017
Tags news
Last month, Hamilton College appointed Francis Coots as the new Director of Campus Safety. Coots ended a thirty-three year career with the New York State Police last February, retiring as Troop Commander of a central New York area. I had the chance to speak with Francis Coots about safety issues pertaining to the Hamilton College campus and listen to his views about maintaining security.
The definition of a safe campus is important to Coots. “You could have the safest campus in the world, where there is no crime, no incidents... but if people don’t feel safe, then you’re really not safe. Everyone—the people that live here, the people that work here and the people that worship here, they have to feel safe. It’s when you wake up in the morning, and you want to go walk over to Commons, and you feel comfortable walking to Commons.”
Clair Chang: You brought up how it is important to feel safe practicing worship on campus. Could you elaborate on this?
Francis Coots: If you’re religious, you can be very vulnerable when you’re in the midst of worshipping.” He drew upon the 2015 Charleston church shooting as an example. “The seven people that were killed in the church...They should have been able to go wherever they want to go, and pray to whatever God they want to pray to, and they shouldn’t have to worry about some moron going in there with a gun and killing them. So that’s why I say that no matter where you live, no matter where you work, no matter where you worship, you should feel safe. And that’s kind of where I’m going with that.
CC: Could you highlight Hamilton’s biggest safety problem and safety asset?
FC: I can’t answer your question with a specific. I will always be concerned about young people engaged in risky behavior, and that could be anything, whether it’s excessive alcohol consumption, illicit drug consumption, unprotected sex. I’m using [those examples] to illustrate that I worry about high risk behavior. [College] is supposed to be a place where you learn, a place where you can become more mature, more worldly, and I want to make sure that when you get here as a freshman, you leave as a graduated senior.
CC: How do you view the relationship between Campus Safety and the student body?
FC: I’ve been here a month, and the student body has been extremely welcoming to me personally. I’ve had contact with a number of different students in different fields on campus. They’ve been very respectful. I think it would be premature of me to say there’s an ‘Us Against Them’ attitude. However, I want to make sure that I never find that out. I think by being approachable, and expecting the people who work for me to treat everyone with respect—that’s the most important thing. We’ll never be perfect, and when we make mistakes, we’re going to be transparent in telling people, ‘Yep, we made a mistake.’ In the event that something happens that causes a negative relationship to build between Campus Safety and the student body, I want to be able to say, you know who I am; I’ve been there to answer all of your questions, I’ve been a resource for all of you to continue learning and to make your campus safe. And when I need to be given the benefit of the doubt, I want to have earned that respect, because respect is earned.
CC: How do you work alongside our EMTs?
FC: Very well. We train together in some respect. We transport a lot of their equipment, so we have to know what they need, when they need it, where they need it, and we need to know how they work and how their personalities are. [We] want to be part of the system that’s going to take care of the students, faculty and administrators, so we do some training together, and I think that only fosters strong relationships.
CC: April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. Could you talk about how Campus Safety handles sexual assault cases on campus, and how they work with students and the administration?
FC: When it comes to combatting sexual assault on campus, there are a couple different things [to mention]. One is we work with Lisa Magnarelli, the Title IX Coordinator, because she is the one who coordinates all the investigations when it comes to sexual assault on campus. Two, when we see risky behavior, we are going to intervene when it’s appropriate. And I’m going to leave it kind of open ended like that and let the reader interpret what I’m saying. I think that if the student body is comfortable with coming to Campus Safety with any concerns, with any type of issue they may be confronting—and it could be any issue—but specifically sexual assault, I want them to feel comfortable in [that] they can approach us, and that we will address it in the manner in which it should be addressed.
CC: What is your overall vision for Campus Safety in Hamilton College?
FC: A well run department and a department that’s professional. Training has to be a high priority for the campus safety officers. They have to understand what their role is on campus, they have to understand the relationship that exists between the student body and Campus Safety and they also have to know what some of the new technologies are that they can employ to make campus safer, to help students learn and just [to be] an overall positive influence on the student body. As far as specific initiatives go, Campus Safety will utilize a new record management system, as well as install computers into campus patrol vehicles. Campus Safety officers will also get involved in sporting events “to ensure the fans’ and teams’ safety.”
CC: Is there anything else you would like to add?
FC: I want to makes sure that everybody on the campus knows that they can approach me [with] any type of issue they may confront. I have an open-door policy. If any issue comes to them that I need to address, I need to know, and I want to work with them. Whether it’s a student, faculty member or even administrator, I want to be able to work with them to make the problem better