A grant was received through a partnership between WSU’s Office of External Affairs and Government Relations (EAGR) and the US Department of Justice’s Technology and Equipment Program (DOJ-TEP).
The DOJ’s TEP program is centered around providing federal grants to applicable entities for financial support in “developing effective equipment, technologies and communications that assist in responding to and preventing crime,” according to the DOJ website.
The EAGR is a team of 13 people who work on customer-service aspects of WSU relating to all state and government affairs with the university, said Federal Relations Director Jacob Dowd.
“Campus safety is a huge issue, we had to work for community support letters, which are required for requests like this,” Dowd said. “Chief Jenkins worked with Pullman Police, the Whitman County Sheriff’s Department and the Moscow Police Department. These upgrades really do help not just not just students on campus, but the city and county too.”
According to a WSU Insider article, the federal grant provides $3 million that the university plans to put towards 120 additional security cameras and remote door control access via swipe cards in highly trafficked areas, such as in the Compton Union Building.
“We’re responsible for articulating the needs of the institution back to elected members,” Dowd said. “So on the federal side, we work with our congressional delegates and their staff as well as federal agencies to work, promote and advocate on behalf of [students]. We work on issues including funding for campus safety programs.”
The EAGR began work with the University’s partners in Washington D.C. after concerns of campus safety were presented by WSU’s Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) to the campus police.
WSU Police Chief Gary Jenkins relayed the concerns of the GPSA to the EAGR in hopes the university could obtain financial aid for security upgrades, according to a WSU Insider article.
Jenkins, the EAG and WSU’s Office of the Provost worked together to craft an appeal for federal funding through a Congressionally Directed Appropriations Request, which was adopted as a community project by WA 5th congressional district [includes Pullman] Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
