UT-Austin Officials Receive Security Audit Toward Enhancing Campus Safety [VIDEO]

AUSTIN, TX -- University of Texas at Austin officials on Wednesday received a long-awaited security assessment on improving campus safety commissioned five months ago after the murder of a student on school grounds.

UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves has vowed to oversee implementation of the security audit's findings, compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to university officials in a press advisory. Fenves requested the audit after UT-Austin student Haruka Weiser was killed in April.

Among the recommendations are issues that have already been highlighted in the wake of the student's death, including ridding the campus of homeless people who might congregate along the sprawling campus --encompassing more than 400 acres and 165 buildings -- and installing more lighting in the darker areas of campus. Weiser was killed by a homeless teen in a poorly lighted section of the school grounds, along a stretch of Waller Creek that runs through campus.

“Keeping our community safe is my first priority,” Fenves said in an email message sent Wednesday to the UT-Austin community after receiving the assessment.

“This has been a historically safe campus, and the DPS report recognizes the university’s efforts to protect students, employees and visitors," Fenves said. "DPS, however, also identifies potential vulnerabilities and issues the university should rectify.”
Among the DPS recommendations are:

• Additional public safety staffing is required, including more University of Texas Police Department officers and security guards who can assist with campus patrols.
• Upgrading of video surveillance systems.
• Better lighting is needed in many areas, and excessive vegetation and overgrowth should be cleared to increase visibility.
• Policies should be developed to reduce the presence of transients on the campus.
• Improved controls should be introduced to limit access to campus buildings at night by individuals who are not members of the UT community.

In a letter accompanying the audit, DPS Director Steven C. McCraw urged university officials to continually update and enhance its security measures.

“As a globally distinguished research institution situated in the heart of one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the nation, the University of Texas at Austin is urged to continuously evaluate its security programs and posture, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to address evolving safety and security risks and threats,” McCraw wrote.

But the findings also reveal shortcomings that hadn't been substantively addressed at press briefings that followed the murder, including the need to hire more security personnel.

McCraw noted that the university has already begun implementing additional safeguards while the assessment was being conducted. Additionally, university officials said, school officials this month launched the “Be Safe” public awareness campaign to promote safety in the campus community, especially among students.

Moreover, university leaders continue working with city and community leaders to address issues related to homelessness in the West Campus area, officials said.

The president’s office and the university’s Executive Compliance Committee chaired by Fenves will oversee implementation of the DPS recommendations, university officials said. To that end, Fenves has asked the university’s chief compliance officer, Paul Liebman, to lead the efforts, including implementing the most pressing recommendations immediately and coordinating campus-wide to implement the others, according to a university news advisory.

“I am grateful to DPS officers and the agency’s leadership for providing a thorough review and recommending improvements for our university,” Fenves wrote to students, staffers and faculty members. “Implementing the DPS recommendations will improve the safety of our entire community.”

However, not all of the audit's findings will be made public, university officials said. As a preemptive strike, school officials invited members of the media to file Freedom of Information requests in trying to access more information from the study, but noted the DPS review is classified as "Law Enforcement Sensitive," and thus immune from open records compliance.

"The full DPS review is classified as 'Law Enforcement Sensitive,' university officials said. "It describes operations related to security and assessment methods that cannot be released. Media and members of the public may file a Freedom of Information request, and the university will work expeditiously with the University of Texas System and Office of the Attorney General to determine whether any information from the full report can be made public."

That stance was highlighted as officials opted not to stage a media briefing as they have in the past, a departure from the transparency university officials exhibited in the days following the student's murder. During a pair of press briefings updating the public on the student's murder and subsequent investigation, university officials invited members of the media to the campus to ask questions of university officials and members of law enforcement -- including Fenves and Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo.

But this time, there was no press briefing. Instead, university officials issued a press advisory via email to media outlets while selectively revealing some of the audit's findings.

>>> Photo of UT Tower, darkened on the day Haruka Weiser was identified as the person killed on campus, by Tony Cantu; other photos and video by Phillip Lybrand for Patch