On Oct. 8, 2025, Drew students received an email from Campus Life and Student Affairs alerting them of the removal of the blue light emergency phones. The department only mentioned one reason for the removal, that being the university’s wish to move away from the use of “traditional phone lines.”
The two emergency phones were located on opposite sides of the Glenwild parking lot, behind McLendon Hall. The phones worked by having an emergency button that connected and directly called emergency services to the location of the phone.
This action by the university is a stark difference from the wishes demanded and described by a lead editorial published by the Drew Acorn in 2021. This article, “Drew Needs to Improve Emergency Alert Systems,” written collectively by the Editorial Board, demanded the installation of more of these blue light emergency phones. It is argued that the phones should be placed in specific locations such as “all parking lots, dorm halls and pathways on campus.”
Reasons were also given supporting the need for a higher presence of these phones, such as “providing comfort and safety for parents and students alike,” “deterring criminal activity” and being more reliable than a cellphone in a “high-risk emergency situation.”
When asked about her thoughts on the blue light emergency pole removal, co-president of the Drew organization HerPath, Nadia Porchetta (’26) stated, “I feel pretty indifferent about the removal, those blue light phones aren’t functional, and since my freshman year, they just made a loud buzzing sound.”
Porchetta goes on to argue what she believes should be done.“What I would like to see are phones that genuinely work and maybe more spaced out on campus, a few along the path and behind some main academic buildings, so walking at night can be a little less anxiety-inducing. I think the app is something that can easily be overlooked by students. I don’t think students will take the effort to download it on their phones and set it up. I feel as though safety shouldn’t be fully electronic based. If my phone is dead or maybe not on me, and I desperately need help, there should be an alternate option.”
With the elimination of blue light emergency phones, the university urges students to download and register for the Live Safe app, which was also complemented by the 2021 article. The app is able to connect students to campus security during an emergency, like the blue light emergency phones do. Other features on the app include alerts for weather-related concerns and alerts for any security-related concerns on the campus.
Nadia Yusko is a first year who is majoring in psychology.
