Beaver Nation Migration

OSU Public Safety works hard to maintain a safe campus, but theft does happen both on-campus and in the Corvallis community.  There are several things you can do to protect your valuable possessions.

Bikes and various electronic devises (laptops, tablets, printers, etc.) can be register with the Department of Public Safety. Registering these items puts them in a law enforcement computer system and therefore recovered items can be identified and returned to their rightful owner. This means you’ll not only have a better change at recovering stolen items, but a thief will be less likely to target your items. You can fill out and turn in a Bike Registration form at Cascade Hall 200 free of charge. Stop tags for small electronics can be purchases through the Office of Public Safety for a fee of $12/tag. More information is available here. In addition to registering these items so simple tips can help decrease the change of theft even more. Consider buying a cheap bike that is less tempting for someone to steal; buy a U-lock and make sure to properly secure your front tire and frame to bike locks; and make an effort to check on your bike regularly (leaving it for weeks on end at the same location is often a recipe for disaster). If you are studying alone do not leave your electronics, or your text books at the table when you’re leaving for a couple of minutes. Please make sure someone is watching your valuables!

Another OSU program to assist you is Operation ID. The form provided on this page helps you document and protect valuable items such as computers, stereos, bicycles, calculators, and more. In order to protect your items fill out the form on the Operation ID homepage and save your serial numbers so if things do get stolen you have a better chance of recovering them. In addition to keeping the serial numbers you would want to have owner engraved identification on the equipment. By having an owner engraved identification on your equipment, if it does get stolen you can get your item entered in the state/national Law Enforcement computer system and can be identified anywhere in the US. This means you’ll have a larger chance of getting your item back. Engraving equipment can be checked out in residence halls and at the Public Safety office at Cascade Hall.

OSU is consistently ranked one of the safest campuses in the country with Corvallis also being highly ranked in terms safety among similarly sized cities. However, college students are often seen as easy targets for those looking to commit crimes. Being proactive and making smart, informed decisions like the 10 mentioned below can help you protect yourself from being a target.

1.) Don’t leave books, laptops, calculators, and other valuable items laying around the library, study lounges,open dorm rooms or classrooms. These things are easy for people to steal, can be sold quickly and are very hard to trace back to their rightful owners.

2.) Lock doors and windows to your residence hall, apartment, or house on a daily basis. Find a safe place or a friend to keep a spare key in case you lock yourself out.

3.) If you bring a car to campus, remove valuable items from it and leave nothing valuable in clear sight. Check your car every few days to make sure it is still in the condition you left it.

4.) Log off all public computers and consider logging off of your private computer in between uses as well. You don’t want to be paying for another person’s printing charges or having someone else sending messages from your account- so take the extra time to log on and off every time.

5.) If you have to walk alone around or near campus at night, consider using Safe Ride, a free service to all OSU students and staff

6.) Program OSU’s Public Safety number into your phone for easy and quick access: 541.737.3010

7.) Use the buddy system when going out to parties and other social events. Leave with the people you came with and never leave a friend behind.

8.) Know what you are consuming at parties and other social events. Never take a drink from someone you don’t know or leave your beverage unattended.

9.) Keep all documents with personal information (credit cards numbers, student identification numbers, social security numbers, immunization records) in a safe location. If you do decide to get rid of these things, shred them first.

10.) Sign up to receive text/email alerts for OSU’s Campus Alert System. These alerts include campus closures, electrical failures in buildings, suspicious activity and traffic accidents on campus.

CONNECT is not only about connecting in person, but also about getting connected online.  We encourage all new students to read through this Account and Technologies Guide for New Students early, so that you are prepared to start classes.  This guide takes about 20 minutes to read through and gives you a ton of great information about technology services on campus, including: how to hook your computer up to the OSU secure wireless network, how to sync your mobile device with OSU email, where you can print on campus and how to access free computer help.  This is a great way to get a quick overview and answers to some common questions.

Did you know your name and some basic information (major, ONID username, etc.) about you is considering public “directory information” and is therefore searchable on the OSU website?  Type your name in the OSU Directory and see what others can know about you.  If you want to change, modify or what is listed in the directory you will need to log on to your MyOSU page, on the left side you will see an option for “OSU Directory Preferences.”  From there you will be able to modify what is viewed.   If you wish to seek complete Confidentiality you will need to stop by the Registrar’s Office (Kerr 102) and complete the appropriate form.  Also in that same space you will see the option to “Update Emergency Contacts” please take a moment in fill this in.  This is only used in cases of severe emergencies.

OSU Alert is the name of Oregon State University’s campus-wide emergency notification system.  This system allows public safety officials to create emergency alerts that contain a recorded voice message, an email message, and a text message and send them to the current database of contact information for all employees and students. In crisis situations, the system will try all means of contacting each person in the database, and uses sophisticated means to verify contact so that we know we have reached everyone we could.

In order to receive these messages you will need to opt in and identify the methods in which you want to be notified (voice message, email and/or text message).  You may also enter additional numbers or emails such as parents, family or partners that might be interested in received emergency information.

Are you debating if you should bring your car to campus or not? There are some benefits to bringing a car, but you don’t need a car if you’re staying in Corvallis. You’ll be saving money not bringing your car! If you bring your car you’ll have to get a parking pass which will cost you $ and will not guarantee you a spot close to your residence hall or class.  So why don’t you try going without a car for the first term and see if you really need it.

The Beaver Bus is a shuttle that runs frequently throughout campus and can help get you from one place to another if you have mobility or just don’t want to walk in the rain.

The Corvallis Transit System (CTS) is FREE and it’s very easy to get around on the bus. Also this city is bike friendly, and it’s easy to get around anywhere on a bike if you don’t want to ride the CTS.  The bus system also includes a Linn Benton Loop that will take to to Albany to the Linn Benton Community College campus.

There are lots of options for if you’re traveling out of the city as well! If you’re heading to the airport there is the HUT (Portland Airport) leaving every 2 hours from campus, or the OmniShuttle (Eugene Airport) by reservation.  There’s also a Greyhound bus stop in Corvallis which you can get to easily using the CTS. Or if flying and going on the bus isn’t your thing, the Amtrak station is in Albany which is also easy getting to using public transportation, or ask a friend who has a car to take you there 😉

This was taken from an email from our Vice Presidents of Financial & Administration and University Marketing and Relations

This will be an exciting year of growth at OSU that includes several large construction projects underway across campus. This construction will necessitate detours, delays, road closures, and parking and pathway changes that will impact how our faculty, students, staff and visitors get around on campus.

We apologize for any inconveniences you may experience during this time. However, your safety is our number one concern.

Please be especially cautious and careful around construction areas by watching out for the safety of yourself and those around you. We recommend the following steps that each of us can take to increase safety:

•  Be aware of your surroundings while on campus
• Remove headphones and avoid texting in construction areas
• Walk your bike through areas where there is a heavy concentration of pedestrians
• Stay on pathways and avoid walking or biking in streets where construction vehicles travel
• Only cross streets using designated crossings
• Don’t cross or enter a restricted construction area
• Observe all directions provided by construction flaggers
• Be aware of construction vehicles traveling on campus
• Give all construction vehicles ample space to navigate into and out of construction areas
• Immediately report any potentially unsafe situation you see to Rose DeBono at 541-737-8408

Please refer to the Construction Impact Mitigation Map, which is available at http://campusops.oregonstate.edu/construction. This map of construction activities occurring on campus will be updated on a regular basis to provide you with the most current information. It identifies the major projects underway (marked in orange) and routes being used by construction vehicles while on campus (marked in green). The map also identifies the efforts that OSU Capital Planning and Development has established to help everyone get around as safely as possible during this extensive period of construction. As you can see from the map, flaggers will be utilized in a number of locations on campus to help direct traffic. These locations are marked by flagger icons. Also, Pedestrian Access routes (marked in purple) have been established at key street crossings and intersections.

Facebook, Stumbleupon, Pinterest, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Skype, there is no shortage of social media sites geared towards keeping us all up to speed on what’s going on with everyone, everywhere, all the time! While some of these sites can be extremely helpful, cheap, and easily accessible ways to keep in touch with loved ones and friends across the globe, they also have some downsides worth discussing.

First and foremost, social media sites have created a virtual footprint for every one of us that uses them. Our posts, our videos, our pictures, our likes, our favorite hangouts, are being broadcast across the internet constantly. Many college students are unaware of the impact that a simple Facebook post or YouTube video can have on their lives and those around them. Last year a UCLA student’s rant about students in the library ended up with her withdrawing from school after inciting a nationwide debate about racial intolerance and freedom of speak issues. Tyler Clemanti, a Rutgers freshman, committed suicide after his roommate put up a distasteful video of him on the web. While these are extreme examples, it is important to remember that everything you post on the web can be found (often even after you’ve deleted it). Before you post, think about how you’d feel if your grandmother read your post or watched your video, what about younger siblings, or your future boss, what about your high school teachers or coaches. If you wouldn’t want them reading or seeing it, then it’s best to keep it off the web. Also, think about how you are feeling at the time you log-on. If you are frustrated, angry, drunk, upset consider other ways to get your message out. Maybe a simply call to a good friend or writing in a journal would be a good alternative.

Secondly there’s the matter of time management. Many of you have probably lost at least a few hours of sleep, studying, exercise, etc. to these sites and with the increased freedom of your college schedule you might be tempted to spend even more time on these sites. You’ll be in good company as you’ll definitely see other students jumping between sites during lectures, while studying at the library, and everywhere else on campus. Yes, you can choose to be on Facebook 24 hours a day, but how will that impact your ability to concentrate in the classroom? How will your 2 hours a day checking out YouTube videos and your friends’ latest “Pins” impact the amount of time you actually hit the books? We’ve all heard of multi-tasking and some of us do it better than others, but be honest with yourself. Most students can’t move between a textbook or lecture notes and a computer screen without losing important content. It’s also true that most people can’t concentrate on reading or studying for more than about 30 minutes without taking a break, so think about shutting off the I-Pad, the phone, the computer when you need to study; it won’t be that long until you can take a break and “reconnect”.

In the end, staying away from social media is almost impossible, if not at least an unreasonable thing to do. However, making smart choices about how and when you use it will not only benefit you during your first-year at OSU, but well into the future.