The blue light safety poles on the University of Maine’s campus are still active, the school clarified Friday, as students raised concerns that the university was discontinuing the system.
Multiple safety poles — which allow people to call 911 with a press of a button — had plastic covering them the week students moved in, junior Jason Durkee said.
Seeing a mass of blue light poles covered without communication gave Durkee a bad gut feeling, he said.
“My first reaction was definitely that of a lot of concern,” Durkee said.
Students posted on social media, worried the university was deactivating the poles on the Orono campus, university spokesperson Eric Gordon said. The university is not deactivating the poles, he said.
A campus-wide check of the poles found some were not functioning properly. Those poles are being repaired, Gordon said.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Durkee said. “At this point I don’t know [that] I have a ton of trust in the university because of the way they failed to communicate it with us.”
QR codes were posted on the poles to let students know about the Black Bear Safe app, Gordon said. The app is designed to be a mobile blue light that calls UMaine police and gives a location so people can receive immediate help.
The free app, along with the blue light poles and other resources, is part of the university’s comprehensive safety strategy, Gordon said.
“I hope that the university sticks to its word,” Durkee said. “I hope that their dedication to student safety is more than just verbal assurance. I hope that they find a way to gain their trust back with students over time.”
