Recent reports of on-campus assaults have caused Residence Life officials and Penn State Police Services to maximize their efforts to prevent future attacks.

More than 200 resident assistants currently monitor and assist students in the dorms. John Hurst, assistant director of Residence Life, said the number of RAs has increased during the past two years, not because of recent events.

"Although we have not increased the number of RAs, we have required the RAs to run education programs for their residents about safety and security," Hurst said. "These programs are supposed to be run by each RA before Sept. 15. We hope that this will be very effective."

Also, during the next two weeks, a new program called "Got Ya" will target "piggybacking." Piggybacking is when someone follows a resident into a dorm without having an access card. "Got Ya" will employ a RA to sit outside of a dorm periodically during the week and hand a red card to a person who just allowed another person to piggyback into the building.

"Once the student is handed a card, hopefully it will get them thinking about what has been going on involving this problem, and what they have just done," Hurst said. "People think they are being nice by holding the door for somebody, but they have to consider that they may not know who that person is."

Lock down card-access hours also changed this semester. On weekdays, doors are locked between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m., and doors remain locked during the weekend.

As another safety precaution, RAs have the duty of doing rounds, which involves walking around the floors of the dorms and checking that everything is in order.

"Every evening there is a certain amount of RAs on duty that are to make two to three rounds throughout the night," Hurst said. "On weekends, the amount of rounds increases and are done at later hours."

RAs doing rounds use radios to communicate with other RAs and Penn State police, in case they need immediate assistance. A Residence Life coordinator is also on duty every night to make sure rounds are done. When not doing rounds, RAs are expected to be in their rooms.

"Rules will always be there, but they tend to give a false sense of security," Hurst said. "Safety relies on the responsibility of us as a community."

Penn State police are also concerned with security on campus and have incorporated more specific duties for officers on patrol.

Officer Diane Grimm said that when an incident occurs on campus, police officers always infiltrate that area as soon as possible.

"There is general patrol around campus at all times," Grimm said. "All residence halls are checked to make sure card-access is working properly and the officers are around if anyone has any concerns."

The Residence Hall Security Unit recently was asked by Residence Life to have officers patrol the floors of the dorms. "We want the students to see the officers in their uniforms so that they start to feel more safe and comfortable," Grimm said. "We feel we provide the right amount of security."

"Every year we schedule to include safety tips," said Sean Cook, area coordinator of Residence Life who is in charge of the publication. "Since it was a timely issue, we changed the schedule to include the safety issues sooner."

Megan Boon (sophomore-premedicine) said she thinks the current changes on campus are a good idea but still leave room for improvement.

"If the university really wants safety, they should have a check-in desk at the entrance of each dorm," Boon said. "However, I still feel safe living in the dorms — I'm just a lot more cautious."

"Stall Stories," a newsletter that is put inside the doors of residents' bathroom stalls, was used recently to inform dorm residents about campus safety tips and resources for victims of sexual assault.