When Bellarmine University had to make the difficult decision to ask students to leave the residence halls as a precaution against the threat of coronavirus, Debbie Fox, director of Bellarmine’s Office of Public Safety, had an immediate idea.
“We can help get those students home,” she said.
Fox’s department announced that any student who needed a ride to their permanent residence anywhere in a two-hour radius could hop aboard one of the three shuttles that usually transports students around campus. Bellarmine’s public safety team also offered to take anyone who remained in residence halls last week to Kroger or the pharmacy.
The service was an example of the countless ways the university has met the coronavirus crisis with a sense of service. Nearly every unit has stepped up in its own way. The School of Continuing and Professional Studies offered shopping services to its Veritas group, which consists of learners over age 54 in the Louisville area. Bellarmine's Alumni Association collected emergency funds and messages of encouragement from alumni to current students. The College of Health Professions donated an inventory of personal protective equipment to front-line healthcare workers.
“At Bellarmine there really is a community, family spirit here,” Fox said. “You have amazing people here who step up and say ‘I’ve got that.’… It’s the Bellarmine way.”
“You have amazing people here who step up and say ‘I’ve got that.’… It’s the Bellarmine way.”
On March 23, dozens of staff and faculty members and even Bellarmine’s president, Dr. Susan M. Donovan, and her cabinet, began calling every single Bellarmine student to check on their wellbeing and any needs they may have.
With registration for the summer and fall semester underway, “we would be touching base with students this time of year anyway,” said Dr. Elizabeth Cassady, associate dean of Academic Services and co-chair of the Student Success Task Force. “At any time of transition, we know that some students are going to struggle.”
Worries about the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that they aren’t on campus may add to that anxiety, she said. “Students are happy to hear from us. They are used to being able to just stop by and get a warm answer to their questions. This is simulating that.”
Public Safety ended up fielding several requests for trips home in the Louisville area, plus two students who asked for rides to the airport before flying back home to California. The students, a junior and a sophomore, were on the same flight. Sharon Oster, the transport supervisor, drove them.
“She wanted to do that,” Fox said. “They were very grateful. We said ‘take care of each other and call us when you get there,’ you know, just like a mom would.”
Fox said they set up each shuttle, which have several benches, for social distancing with students sitting six feet apart.
“We’ve been intentional about what we’re doing,” she said.
The Bellarmine Difference
Staff and faculty said Bellarmine’s sense of service isn’t limited to times of crisis, but is woven into the fabric of the university’s identity.
For example, Fox said the offer to give rides home is indicative of the relationship Public Safety has with the campus community on a regular basis. The unit covers general functions of campus security and transportation but also goes above and beyond for individuals, as they need it.
“We’re not sworn officers, so we’re not police,” she said. “We’re more like ambassadors for the university. We do all kinds of things. … We’re always looking for ways to step up to serve the community.”
That includes giving students escorts or rides on campus past 10:30 p.m., when the shuttle service ends, whenever they’re requested. In the past, they’ve made pickups at the airport for students moving to campus.
“That’s the Bellarmine environment; it’s all about hospitality,” Fox said. “And we balance between hospitality and safety.”