Historic Private University in Elon, North Carolina
Executive Summary
As Elon University has undergone a sizeable amount of construction in the last several years, it has also increased it’s emergency communications presence on the campus. Currently, they are working on a new addition to their business school and are about to finish a new gymnasium and communications building.
The university includes Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences; the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business; the School of Communications; the School of Education; the School of Health Sciences; and the School of Law, which is located on a campus in downtown Greensboro, N.C. “Typically what we’ve done, is any new building or parking lot gets at least one Talkaphone unit. If it’s a bigger parking lot, we’ll put two up,” says chief of campus security, Scott Jean.
Parking lots are a critical place for emergency communication safety, as often these spaces can be either manned or unmanned and present a risk to employees, visitors, and property management.
Critical Component for the University
The new security solution implemented for Elon University with Talkaphone combines emergency phones, cameras, safety apps, and an alert notification system to keep their students and faculty safe. The blue light towers are a key component for the university, adding a highly visible measure of security to deter potential criminals and provide a sense of security on the historic 636-acre campus.
“It definitely makes students feel safer when they know they’re going to be in these parking lots at night or other areas of the campus. Everybody has smartphones now but the blue lights are still a good thing to have – students and parents like to physically see something,” says Jean.
Future Plans
As they expand their security footprint along with their growing campus, Elon University has plans to potentially add cameras to their Talkaphone towers as well as adding Talkaphone’s WEBS Mass Notification loudspeaker system.
The campus has partnered with Talkaphone for years now, and Scott Jean sites the quality of the equipment and the customer service as some of the key reasons, “We have a good relationship with Talkaphone and the equipment has always been reliable.”
