Emily Leach is the opinion editor of the Daily Titan. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the Daily Titan as a whole.
Cal State Fullerton educates over 43,000 students from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. As a public university, the institution’s leaders and law enforcement bear an imperative responsibility to guarantee that students can attend class safely.
As so many students navigate campus daily, dangers posed against the school can quickly turn tragic. CSUF must establish and communicate designated safe zones for the commuter population in the event of an external threat to campus safety, ensuring that those without a residence hall or on campus housing know where to seek cover before an emergency occurs.
The University Police Department at CSUF currently utilizes digital communication channels to address threats to campus safety, including a text-alert system and multiple online forums dedicated to mapping crime within the university’s community.
Marissa Garza, the public information officer for Public Affairs and Community Outreach at CSUF Police Department, explained how university police officers assess threats to the campus.
“When threats of violence or criminal threats involving the university are reported, each is taken seriously and promptly assessed,” Garza wrote in an email to the Daily Titan. “Our department officers gather and evaluate available information to determine the credibility of the threat, the level of risk to the campus community and whether there is immediate or ongoing danger.”
While the current measures taken by the university are a necessary foundation for effective crisis management, the fact remains that 97% of the student body commutes to campus. University safety requires additional measures for those who cannot quickly retreat to a private home when danger arises.
“If I were a commuter and I didn’t have a car, where would I go?” said Lucy Fairweather, an undeclared second-year. “I’d still have to be on campus, or I’m making a run for it.”
The lack of a secure refuge for students who live off-campus highlights a vulnerability in the university’s safety infrastructure. Without proximal on-campus housing, commuters are forced to rely solely on the speed and accuracy of campus alerts when navigating a crisis.
This reliance creates a potentially dangerous disparity; if communication fails or is delayed, the commuting population is left exposed in the many public areas of the university and its surrounding community. Students may then feel forced to turn to social media, where misinformation often outpaces official reports, ultimately increasing chaos amid a crisis.
“I think they (students) should be told immediately or within five minutes of said incident,” said third-year criminal justice major Veronica Saavedra. “I think the sooner students know, the more they could plan and the more they could get to safety.”
Increased chaos due to underpreparedness poses an additional risk to CSUF students. A panicked student body is more likely to make rash, unsafe decisions, potentially leading to dangerous stampeding and overcrowding as students try to find their own form of refuge.
Threats and actions of violence against school institutions are a major issue in the American education system. An analysis from the Educator’s School Safety Network shows that there were over 2,000 threats of violence and nearly 500 violent incidents in schools throughout the 2024-2025 academic year.
The rising levels of violence within schools are especially alarming when considering the bustling culture of a commuter-centered campus like CSUF. Without a clear, immediate protocol for commuters in the event of a threat, the inevitable surge in student anxiety compromises the university’s ability to effectively address threats to campus safety.
Luis Chavez, a third-year theater major, shared that he had felt a sense of panic when he was faced with a threat to campus safety as a commuter student.
“In the quad my first year…we got a text message that there had been a report that there was a stabbing,” Chavez said. “And I literally called my friend, and I was just like, ‘Where do I go?’”
For an institution serving a majority commuting student body, safeguards must extend beyond general alerts to include designated sanctuary zones clearly communicated to students who rely on them most. Without these actionable directions, the university ultimately leaves its largest demographic to navigate a crisis without a clear idea of the safest way to proceed.
For CSUF to fulfill its mission in cultivating a safe learning environment for Titans, safety procedures must evolve beyond mere notifications. For those with nowhere to go amidst a threat against campus safety, an alert only serves to confirm a student’s vulnerability.
The universities’ large commuting student body should have the reassurance of knowing exactly where to retreat before an emergency, rather than being forced to navigate a crisis in real time. By establishing these secure destinations in advance, the university ensures that commuters on campus are not left to rely solely on digital communication as a threat unfolds, facilitating effective crisis management on the university’s behalf.