Student Safety With ASG President Lilly Humber

Associated Student Government (ASG) President Lilly Humber, a junior bioethics student, has been involved in student safety since she initially joined student government during her first year at Santa Clara. From supporting the need for increased mental health resources to passing the Student Safety Resolution, student safety has been a hallmark of her career in ASG.

During her sophomore year, Humber held the position of the Senator at Large for Student Safety, where she regularly hosted violence prevention and consent presentations. Safe Walk, a program that enables students to receive free walks back to campus in situations where they feel uncomfortable, was established the same year. Now, as ASG President, Humber describes student safety as her one passion, for which she “will always serve as an activist.”

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ishaani Dayal: What are some resources to help students ensure their safety on campus?

Lilly Humber: Safe Walk is a fantastic resource for walking people home between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Monday, Friday, Saturday and we're trying to get Thursday.

There are violence prevention educators and the fully staffed Wellness Center with a confidential survivor advocate.

We have Campus Safety, who responds at all hours and applies medical amnesty and good samaritan rules. Medical amnesty is where you will receive reduced consequences if you are underage and seek medical attention for drinking too much alcohol. The good samaritan rule protects underage students from consequences if they are helping an intoxicated friend. 

Additionally, EMS (emergency medical services) is completely student-run and responds to anyone on campus–they are often the responses you see attending to students on Swig Lawn.

Next, the Title IX office. You can report–confidentially or not–for any gender-based discrimination or harassment, including stalking, relationship violence and sexual assault. If confidential, the perpetrator’s name is in the system, so future cases can note the individual’s history. 

Non-confidential reports rarely equals pursuing an investigation or notifying the perpetrator. In most situations, the reporter leads the case. You can receive housing and academic accommodations, amongst more. We're fortunate to have a pro-student Title IX director, so I'm optimistic about the new guidelines.

How effective do you think Safe Walk was last year? How might it develop this year?

It was heavily advertised through the violence prevention and the consent presentations that I gave and all 44 walks were successful. Now, all fraternities have a Safe Walk poster, so I foresee its use increasing this year. Our biggest change is increasing from two walkers to four now, so two groups of people can be escorted at once.

The biggest thing that we want for now is (1) to make sure that students remain the ones who pick up the phone and (2) that it remains a confidential service. The current division that the school wants to move us under is Campus Safety. They want to keep it a confidential service, but have Campus Safety pick up the phone. That's something I'm not really willing to budge on as much.

My biggest goal for this year is to get Safe Walk a golf cart, so that we can not only go around Light Side but I'd love to be able to bring back intoxicated folks from The Bronco. We changed our radius ever so slightly so that The Bronco is right on the edge.

What are ASG and Santa Clara’s goals for student safety on campus? Is there any discrepancy between the two?

We want students to feel safe, have diverse resources and feel that those resources are accessible. I do think that sometimes we disagree on what that looks like, but everyone at Santa Clara understands that if students don't feel safe, then nothing else matters.

What is the biggest student safety issue you have seen?

It’s people not feeling safe reporting incidents and the lack of student knowledge about safety practices off-campus. Knowledge gaps are always an issue and something that needs to be worked on. This year, we're at a point where we can find flaws in the system and deal with those flaws effectively. 

I think the safety resources are adequate right now, but needs can always change. We often hear, “we want to support that, but we don't have the money.” Funding can be altered, but a significant amount of Santa Clara’s budget is already earmarked.

The other thread is that some students lack sympathy, which drives violence on our campus and everywhere. It's hard to teach sympathy, but you can teach what's legal.

What is the best way to tackle these issues?

Santa Clara responds well to loud voices. Administrators genuinely respect student opinions and when it’s voiced loudly and clearly, they do listen. Students–if there's something that you want, don’t be scared to be open about it.

For sympathy, there's an intervention curve we use to describe violence prevention practices. It takes lots of courage to intervene in a dangerous situation, but if enough people do it, then everyone does it. 

Are there any tips that you personally have for students to be proactive about their safety both on and off campus?

My catchphrase is, ‘stay respectful, stay safe and stay sexy’ — in that order.

• Travel in groups.

• Know your tolerance.

• Be aware of the symptoms of roofie-ing, which are unfortunately very similar to being really drunk. The most significant symptom is feeling different to regular drunkenness and acting completely out of character.

• Greek life has certain houses that throw parties off-campus. Each house has a reputation–trust it. If your friend says, 'don't go here, I didn't feel safe when I went here,' then don't go there, you won't feel safe when you go there.

• Cover beverages.

• Be cautious when you're hanging out with another individual, especially someone who you don't know as well.

Is there a way to cut down the number of incidents where students are in a state to have EMTs called on them?

I feel like I've seen EMTs get called more last year than I did my first year, and I do think that's a positive thing and indicative of students knowing that EMTs exist and trusting that source.

We can keep up RSO funding. Funding student interests gives them spaces to be interested in things other than drinking on a Wednesday night.

Warning people of the physical consequences for their own bodies is essential. High school leaves students vastly unprepared, most students haven't heard of Title IX and I’d guess the average incoming high schooler cannot give the definition of sexual assault, which is concerning.

What are the best ways to prepare first-years for college life?

Join clubs, because that's where resources gravitate towards. You’re more likely to be more knowledgeable about the campus if you’re active in a club.

At Santa Clara, you have to complete training modules before you’re given a housing assignment, which is a great setup. 

Are Santa Clara students lacking any on-campus resources?

We are a Jesuit institution, but I wish Cowell could directly prescribe birth control and we could distribute condoms on campus. It bothers me that we are currently not able to because even though we currently have to jump through hoops to provide these services and preventative measures. 

For example, you can receive a prescription for birth control if it is for reasons other than controlling birth. We have slowly been moving towards removing some of these hoops, so I am grateful that Cowell can now refer students to Planned Parenthood. But we are in California, in 2023, and the process could be more seamless.