Student Senator Bobby Escobar speaks to Florida Legislators and Orange County Residents advocating for campus safety legislation at the Orange County Legislative Delegation Public Meeting on Oct. 21.
Courtesy of the Orange County Government of Florida
UCF’s Senate Government Affairs and Policy Committee spoke at the Orange County Legislative Delegation meeting on Oct. 21 to highlight students’ campus safety concerns for Florida legislators.
Student Sen. Bobby Escobar, a member of the Government Affairs and Policy Committee, delivered a speech advocating for policies to improve campus safety.
This comes after ongoing results from GAP’s annual Legislative Priority Survey showed the UCF student body’s unease with campus safety.
“The UCF Student Government urges you to support, introduce and pass legislation that addresses student concerns of public safety on university and college campuses,” Escobar said in the speech.
Student Sen. Juan Varela, the committee chair, explained what the legislative objectives of campus safety involve for the committee.
“It just entails any sort of measures or policies that make students feel like they’re safer and accepted on campus,” Varela said. “What we do is we watch and observe for Florida Legislature bills in the House or Senate that further our goal of campus safety, and if one appears that either harms it or benefits it, we will advocate for or against it, respectively.”
Currently, the GAP has two bills flagged in Florida’s House of Representatives and Senate.
These three bills include House Bill 133, which would reduce the minimum age to purchase or transfer firearms, and Senate Bill 176, which would require state universities and the Florida College System to administer specific safety policies and procedures relating to safety.
The Legislative Priority Survey features different policy areas for UCF students to rank individually on a scale of 1-5 according to how important it is for the Student Government to advocate for them on campus and in state policy.
Campus safety as a campus-specific policy area currently ranks around 4.7 out of 5, according to Varela. It is a top priority for UCF students and is represented in the survey by issues such as weapons and self-defense policy, and policing.
The anonymous survey also features an open-response section for students to add further comments about their decisions.
“We should not have to be afraid to go to class because we could be shot and killed on campus,” one student said.
“I wish UCF was better at addressing the threat to any students on campus,” said another student.
Sofia Santiago, a freshman psychology major, expressed appreciation for the UCF Student Government as she agrees that campus safety is a significant concern for her.
“I do walk by myself a lot at night, especially staying late for clubs and things like that,” Santiago said. “I’ve been hearing a lot about older men going up to younger girls and everybody’s just like, ‘You need to be safe, be cautious, stay aware.’”
Escobar said safety is crucial to the success and well-being of the student body and is, in turn, essential to UCF.
“They shouldn’t have to worry about not being safe, especially when students are taking exams, doing their extracurriculars, getting experience in their different areas,” Escobar said. “Safety should be something that they don’t have to worry about.”
As GAP continues to observe UCF’s responses to the Legislative Priority Survey and review active Florida legislation, the committee is further developing its advocacy agenda for the annual Day at the Capitol in Tallahassee next year. This is a chance for students to lobby their legislative priorities at Florida’s Capitol.
“If we don’t tell the legislature what we need, who is going to?” Varela said. “We are the voice of the students. There is no better advocate than the students themselves for themselves.”