University of Galway Student’s Union launches walking home group for students

By Naomi Hamilton O’Donnell

The Student’s Union (SU) at the University of Galway have launched the SU Welfare Walking Bus, an initiative to help keep students safe when walking home after dark.

The group was set up by Izzy Tiernan, Student’s Union Vice President/ Welfare and Equality Officer, the Welfare Crew and the SU Student Safety Watch.

The Welfare Walking Bus is a WhatsApp group chat for students to text if they are walking home from university in the evenings or night, so they can link up with other students walking in the same direction.

Izzy explains how the group was created:

“The idea came from a number of group chats created last year following sexual assaults and attacks which happened on and off campus in the first semester of the last academic year. As Welfare Officer, I decided to streamline it and organise my own official group chat so that it can be pushed and circulated through the Union’s channels.”

There are currently 34 members in the group and it has been well-received by students.

“The reaction from students has been positive, as the past group chats worked quite well, and having it organised by the SU means the group is easily available to any student to enter,” says Izzy.

Promoting student safety

The SU Student Safety Watch has recently been established to aid with campus safety.

“The Student Safety Watch, my main manifesto point and campaign promise, has been created, with 13 students now employed who will be patrolling on and around campus on high-volume risk nights, e.g., Hallows,” explains Izzy.

“They will be equipped with water, chocolate, plasters and anything they may need to hand out to students in distress. They have also been trained in how to appropriately approach and help a student in distress. This initiative is hopefully going to help promote safety on campus.”

Now that the clocks have gone back, the evenings will continue to get darker into the winter. For anyone feeling anxious about being out after dark, Izzy has some practical advice for staying safe:

“There is no way to ensure safety on a night out, but there are practical steps one can take to help oneself.

“Staying in groups when walking home (there is safety in numbers), being aware of your surroundings and environment when out at night, always having your phone charged, downloading the Safe Zone App to use when on campus to alert security and emergency services to any incident with the click of a button, and reporting any incidences to the appropriate authorities, speaking with myself about it, or using our anonymous reporting tool called Speak Out.”