With many changes coming to the Wichita State University campus, safety is still the number one priority this semester. 

University Chief of Police Sara Morris couldn’t stress that enough.

Morris took over as chief of police this summer following her successor Paul Dotson, and is the first woman to lead university police.

Last semester went well, she said, and a lot of that had to do with Dotson’s previous success.

“We have been on such a good path for the last few years,” Morris said, “so it was real easy to just keep moving forward.”

Parking issues, active shooter seminars and concealed-carry legislation are at the top of her list for the spring semester.

“Parking. Need I say more?” Morris said, laughing.

At the moment, Morris is looking at parking options for Shocker Hall residents. Morris said President John Bardo has mentioned having residents park their cars off campus and use a shuttle service to travel back and forth between Shocker Hall and the parking lots, which could create possible safety issues.

“We want them to be safe and be able to come and go,” Morris said. “I kind of look at our freshmen as from the Wichita area … This is their hometown, so it’s going to be hard for them to stay on campus.”

In order to keep students safe as they travel back and forth from Shocker Hall and surrounding parking lots, Morris said university police needs more officers to increase visibility around campus and better monitor security cameras.

The department has already added three new positions to their current 28 commissioned law enforcement officers, with about 45 officers, which include parking lot security, in total.

Another challenge Morris has is the concealed-carry legislation. 

Last summer, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a law that would allow those with a concealed carry permit to carry concealed firearms into public buildings in the state of Kansas, which includes universities. Wichita has an exemption until 2017. 

“We will always argue against guns on campus,” Morris said.

Yet, the legislation is still being discussed, and Morris plans on meeting with Student Government Association to figure out future policies.

“Sometimes our hands are tied whether you feel it’s the right thing or not,” she said. “So we’ll just hope for the best on that.”

University police will continue to offer the active shooter seminars this semester in partnership with Human Resources. Morris said they offered 12 campus-wide seminars and 15 seminars for individual departments across campus last semester. More than 400 university students, faculty and staff were in attendance.

 Whether it’s in regards to parking, the shuttle bus service, or conceal and carry legislation, Morris emphasized all-around safety.

“I want to talk to parents and comfortably say ‘we’re safe,’” Morris said. “I’ve got a 17-year-old daughter, so I look at it as if I was a parent, what would I want from the police department and the school where my daughter’s going to go to.”