Seton Hall has many safety programs, including a transportation service known as the CASE van. While the CASE van was created to help students, some are discouraged by its lack of availability.
According to a broadcast e-mail sent to students on Sept. 31, the CASE van, which is operated by Public Safety and Security, is available for students to utilize when traveling off-campus.
The e-mail encourages students to use this service, stating, "Whenever possible take the SHUFLY shuttle, the CASE van or public transportation."
However, a second e-mail was sent to students on Oct. 1 in order to clarify some of the rules for using the CASE van.
"Please be aware that the CASE van, which is operated by Public Safety and Security, is not an on-call service," the e-mail said.
The rules went on to explain that the CASE van is only available to students from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and will take students a half-mile from campus to locations that the SHUFLY does not already go to.
Many students were confused about these rules, however, and found them to be irksome.
"I think (the CASE van) is pointless," junior Michael Mozia said, adding that in his freshmen year an upperclassman had told him he could call Public Safety and Security at any time to have the van pick him up.
"I tried to use it once last year…I got home back from New York at like 3 a.m. and they said they don't do that and didn't pick me up," Mozia said.
A common problem seems to be that students have difficulty getting the Van to pick them up.
"I have used it, I was at Pathmark after the SHUFLY had stopped running and they came and got me," sophomore Allison Roddy said. She added that even though the CASE van did come for her, she "had to convince someone to do it."
There also seems to be some confusion about what the rules actually are, even with the e-mail.
"They run from like, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or something, right?" Mozia asked, "And they go like a mile out?" Mozia and Roddy both said that they think the service can be improved.
"I think they could go farther out, and run later," Mozia said.
However, Patrick Linfante, assistant vice president and director of Public Safety, said that Public Safety is doing the best job it can to ensure the safety of students and cannot provide the CASE service for longer amounts of time than they do currently.
"CASE provides students with safe and convenient transportation. Students traveling to destinations within a half-mile radius of the campus that are not on the SHUFLY route should utilize CASE. They can come to the Public Safety Office, located next to the Ward St. gate," Linfante said.
"Our limited resources and staffing allows us only to provide the current level of service," Linfante said. He explained that the CASE van was created two years ago in order to help safely transport students to destinations around campus.
Linfantes said the hours were created with input from students.
While Linfante stated that the only times the CASE van would be available to students was between the hours of 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., sophomore student Joshua Meyer, who was mugged on the evening of Sept. 29 on Eder Terrace and Wilden Place, said that he recently utilized the CASE van at around 12:30 a.m.
"I went to Public Safety and saw that the van was parked outside, so I figured I'd go in and ask, because what's the worst they could say? No?" Meyer said. "But they said yes and didn't give me a hard time or anything. The driver was really nice."
Linfante said that he was unsure why Meyer was given a ride after the service had ended for the night, but that he would look into it. Meyer, however, feels that "there should not be a time limit on security."
Caitlin Carroll can be reached at caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu.
