(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A petition is gaining traction online to bring more security measures to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) since the deadly shooting on campus last month. The shooting took the lives of two people, and UCCS said it is aware of the petition.
The online petition has more than 600 signatures from students, calling for increased security on campus. Students that FOX21 News spoke with said they are dissatisfied with how the university communicated the situation and created the petition to feel heard. Some students want increased cameras outside dorms, secure classroom buildings, and working surveillance in all parking locations.
“We need change, we want change, and we don’t feel safe here,” Allison Pierce, UCCS Freshman said.
UCCS students woke up on Friday, Feb. 16, to a text alert to start performing lockdown procedures, but some students said they never received that alert.
“I was very concerned,” Pierce explained. “It was around two hours of not knowing what was going on, whether it was our dorm that was a crime scene or another dorm.”
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), Nicholas Jordan, the suspect arrested on Monday, Feb. 19 on two counts of First Degree Murder in connection to the shooting deaths of Samuel Knopp and Celie Montgomery, was a roommate of one of the victims.
“It was very difficult to watch the police and the investigation,” Pierce said. “A lot of us saw them ripping out the carpets of Samuel’s dorm and throwing it away. I was jarring, to say the least.”
Pierce created the online petition and is calling for an increase in security on campus.
“I had a teacher once tell me that there is power in numbers,” Pierce explained. “When it comes to an institution like UCCS, I knew that stuff wasn’t going to change unless they saw the community needing change.”
Signatures continue to be added with students saying, “There needs to be change to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again,” or saying, “We don’t feel safe on campus.”
“We don’t feel safe, the students aren’t acting like we did before, especially in the mornings,” Pierce explained. “Students don’t walk to class anymore, the shuttles are a lot more packed than they were and I think that shows, directly, that we don’t feel safe here. We’re scared and it’s time that the school does something about it.”
FOX21 News reached out to the university for an interview, but they declined. However, they did provide a statement.
“Safety has been and will continue to be something we think about and work to improve every day. Below is a list of a few of our campus safety resources and projects:
We have a full-time campus police department that provides round-the-clock response to emergency and non-emergency situations relating to the safety and security of people and property associated with the University. UCCS Safe App – The app will send users important safety alerts and provide instant access to campus safety resources, such as Friend Walk, Virtual Safety Walk, and multiple ways to report an incident. While we currently have cameras on campus, a project was initiated in 2023 to increase the coverage of our cameras. This project should be completed later this year.”
Chris Valentine, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
“I would like to see the cameras being installed and I hope to see them by May,” Pierce said. “I’m still waiting though, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
