Student Government Association and Ball State University officials combined their effort to make campus safer for students.
Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for facilities planning and management, said one call box was installed on McKinley Avenue near the Music Instruction Building during the Spring Semester. A second call box was installed near "Frog Baby" fountain during the Summer Semester, he said.
In order to make the call boxes inside bus stop shelters more visible, facilities planning and management also installed blue lights on top of the boxes during the summer, Lowe said.
Gene Burton, director of public safety, said the University Police Department worked with facilities planning and management and SGA to strategically place the call boxes.
"We look at it logistically to see where it would make sense [to put them]," he said.
Matt Lacy, secretary of governance for Student Government Association's Public Safety Committee, said the call boxes were installed in high-traffic areas, such as near "Frog Baby", because students might feel safer.
SGA President Betsy Mills said the organization frequently works with facilities planning and management to improve campus security.
Lowe said facilities planning and management decided to place a blue light on top of the emergency phone in the Stadium parking lot after an attempted abduction there last Spring.
"Why didn't that student use the phone?" Lowe said. "Well, she might not have known it was there. Whenever we hear about a situation we go and check it out. If the abductor had known [a call box was there], he might not have attempted it."
Mills said SGA representatives tour the campus with Lowe to inspect lighting and determine if any place needed better lighting.
Burton said "Frog Baby's" emergency call box was not related to an event such as the attempted abduction in the Stadium parking lot.
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