FEELING SAFE AT SLCC

Feeling Safe at SLCC

Strategic Communications Plan

BUS2200

Professor Lon Schiffbauer

Amairany Maldonado

Kate Luna

Juliana Mancera

Fadumo Mohamed

Salt Lake Community College

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SlM_rwOKP0Dao_Yg695ZGvYE3E3Q5VvWv

gBax_ZL6cs/edit#slide=id.p
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Purpose Statement

Our strategic communication goal is to provide information and guidance to feel

protected at school. Our plan will be targeted for female SLCC students that are taking on-

campus classes. There are programs that a lot of students are not aware of and our goal is to

make these resources known and utilize them a lot more. The Department of Public Safety at Salt

Lake Community college now offers a parking lot safety escort service. If a student ever feels

unsafe walking to their car alone, they can request this service by calling (801) 957-3800 and a

Campus Security Officer (CSO) or Utah Highway Patrol officer will be dispatched to escort

them safely to their car completely free of charge. SLCC also offers kickboxing classes that

teach self defense techniques and are available to all students. There are apps you can download

on your phone that allow you to communicate with first responders if you ever feel that you are

in a dangerous situation. We find it best fitting to mention these safety resources in the

orientation module at the beginning of the semester and will be asking faculty members to

mention these resources to their students to help spread the word.

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Audience Analysis

Demographics

Our main target audience whom we want to get our message across is the women who attend

classes on campus at SLCC. They are mostly young adults aging around 18-26 years old.

According to SLCC’s fact book, more females are enrolled at SLCC than males; The gender

ratio is 53% women to 47% men. Out of the total number of students at SLCC (29,156 students),

there are about 273 international students. As Renata Giannini mentioned in her article,

Promoting Women’s Safety in Latin America, every year 12,000 women are killed. 40% of

women have been victims of physical violence and another 60% have suffered emotional

violence at some point in their lives.

Psychographics

As women, we tend to be more aware of our surroundings at all times. As our group

talked together we all agreed that many of us have pepper spray on our keychains or we hold the

car key tight in between the pointer and middle finger in case something happens. There are

women who decide to play it safe, they go out and buy self defense tools to feel secure and

protect themselves in case of an emergency. But on the other hand, there are women who feel

strong, independent and sometimes get too confident thinking they can defend themselves

without having to use any of the resources available to them. Women are often perceived as

being weak, especially when they are alone. Taking night classes can be daunting because by the
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time class is over it’s dark outside and parking lots are empty. This is because most students take

morning classes and work afternoon shifts. The parking lot safety escort service can be very

practical for students taking night classes. Feeling safe is fundamental to our well-being,

especially at school. When students feel safe, they are better able to focus on learning, which in

turn leads to increased academic achievement. SLCC has Title IX, the college is committed to

maintain a community where all individuals may work and study free from abuse, intimidation

and harassment.

Juliana interviewed Beck, a fellow classmate, who said she knew about SLCC security and

because she does not take night classes she does not feel the need to use it. Another female

student said she wouldn’t feel comfortable calling them because she would feel more paranoid,

because she doesn’t usually call for police assistance.

Fadumo interviewed one of her best friends who took a class at the West Jordan campus and

informed her of an incident that had occurred last year. The young girl was walking out of the

building with her friend when they noticed three suspicious men standing in the parking lot.

These men came up to them and asked if they could give them a ride home, both girls said they

didn’t have a car but one of the guys noticed she had keys in her hand and said “stop lying yes

you do”. He then reached for her keys and both the girls started screaming loud enough for a

staff member to hear and call the police. All three men ran away before the police got there. The

police took statements from the girls and asked them to describe them to file a report.
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Context

We agreed that our project will be more effective if we presented it in person where we

will be able to talk to students face-to-face. Our team consists of four young ladies that are

currently attending classes at SLCC which is why we believe our audience will be comfortable

talking to us and will be more willing to listen to our presentation. With the recent local news

and issues relating to police brutality and discrimination against black people, we want to

reassure the women of color that security officers will never discriminate against the color of

their skin and will always be willing to help. In the year of 2020 Utah had a breaking record of

103 homicides with a previous record of 90 homicides in 2016 (Reavy, 2020). In the year of

2016, 10 major public and non-for-profit colleges and universities in the state of Utah reported

the number of sexual assaults on campus; SLCC was ranked as number 3 with 12 cases (Madsen,

Turley, Woodbury). There are women around the world who worry about their safety, especially

if they live in a country where they can easily get killed or be violated. As the migration of

women is increasing so is the level of violence towards women, human trafficking, assault, etc.

Women in Syria and Afghanistan are trying to escape from their country because they are

“subject to persecution and sexual and gender-based violence, including war-related violence”

(Strasbourg). Unfortunately, when they do escape and they arrive at another country seeking for

an asylum, they sometimes aren’t helped; they face discrimination and human rights violations.
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Messaging Goals

Our Goal with this project is to show students that SLCC provides resources that are available to

everyone. SLCC has a kickboxing class in which you workout your body, you learn punching

techniques, and correct form. You imagine that the bag is someone who is attacking you and you

learn where and how to punch your attacker to knock them down. Another resource that SLCC

provides is a safety escort from campus to the parking lot. This is a campus officer who will

escort you safely to your car. This service is commonly suggested to use at night if you’re taking

evening classes. Because it is dark outside around this time, you might feel uncomfortable

walking alone to your car. You can request this service by calling (801-957-3800). We

encourage students to use these resources and apply them to their everyday lives. We want all

students to feel safe while on campus because this is crucial to the learning process. Students will

know that they have options to choose from whenever they feel like it is needed.

Key Messages

Please remember this:

● SLCC wants to provide a safe environment for students to learn effectively which is why

they have provided us with these resources.

● Reaching out and seeking help does not make you weak and we encourage you to make

use of the help that is offered to you.

● Feeling safe is a number one priority inside and outside of school because it is

fundamental to your well-being.

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Channels/Media Mix

We want to get our message across by:

● Creating a banner that will pop up on the front page of canvas because students use

canvas all the time.

● Sending out emails to SLCC professors to give them all the information needed to locate

and use these resources so they could then pass this information to their students.

● Putting up posters at the student Life Activities center because that is where a lot of

students like to hang out after class.

● SLCC dedicates the month of March to celebrate women’s heritage. We would like to

present our campaign during this time because it would be a really great way to

communicate with our audience.

Tactical Plan

We want to inform women of these resources at the beginning of the semester in the

orientation module, creating a canvas banner, and sending out an email to professors to

encourage them to talk about this issue to their students. By using the right channels we will

connect better with our targeted audience and our campaign will be effective. Students will be

aware of the help offered to them and feel safer on school grounds. This will then allow students

to focus more on their school work, which will make college a little less stressful than it has to

be.
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Conclusion

For this communication’s campaign project our selected audience is the female students

attending on campus classes at SLCC. We have done our research and agreed that the best

channels to use are those that students have easy access to such as a canvas announcement,

posters around the school hallways, and their professors. Our main goal or take away from this

project is for students to know that there are resources that SLCC provides and encourage them

to make use of them whenever necessary.

Work Cited
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College Simply (2021)

https://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/utah/salt-lake-community-college/students/

College Tuition Compare

https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/edu/230746/salt-lake-community-college/enrollment/

Giannini, Renata A. (2019, August 13). Promoting Women’s Safety in Latin America

http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/08/promoting-womens-safety-latin-america/

Dr. Madsen, Susan R. , Turley, Tiffany. , and , Woodbury, Orin R. (November 16, 2016) (No.15) Sexual
Assault Among Utah Women

https://www.usu.edu/uwlp/files/snapshot/15.pdf

Reavy, P. (2020, December 31). Utah had a record 103 homicides during 2020. Retrieved from

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/12/30/22178958/news-record-102-homicides-
during-2020-shooting-deaths-officer-involved-murders-killing

Strasbourg, (2016, July 3). Human rights of refugee and migrant women and girls need to be better
protected

https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/human-rights-of-refugee-and-migrant-women-and-
girls-need-to-be-better-protected