Author: Cameron Goodman
It’s early on a cold Friday morning and Director of Campus Safety Hollis Nieto sits at her desk reminiscing and laughing to herself. Needless to say, she has a long weekend ahead of her: complaints about loud off-campus parties, drunken students seeking rides to and from residence halls and student houses and perhaps an alcohol poisoning or two. Maybe she’ll get a call for something she’s never dealt with before. It all comes with the territory. But for now, she takes a moment to reflect upon some of the more amusing moments of her long career.
Enjoying a day off one Monday afternoon several years ago, Nieto was driving through the Oxy neighborhood on her way to the grocery store. She happened to pass an unidentified frat house, one of several scattered throughout the neighborhood. In the front yard, she witnessed students at work. A few fraternity brothers were working together to dig a hole, no more than three feet deep, and fill it with water.
“After a few too many canteens of jungle juice,” Nieto said, they would climb up on the roof and jump into the makeshift diving pool, part of their preparation for the all-campus party to be held at the house that night. Nieto’s car screeched to a halt. She volunteered to work at the party that night, just to make sure nobody was flattened after a misjudged swan dive into the homemade pond.
Even when she’s off the clock, as Nieto was then, her work continues, because the mischievous, beer-pickled brains of Oxy students rarely cease thinking of new ways to party.
All of us in the Oxy community have a close relationship with Campus Safety whether we realize it or not. They are an integral part of the campus and our interaction with the surrounding community. Every day they come in shifts to make sure things run smoothly and safely. Some students have befriended the officers, while others demonize them as an oppressive force determined to keep minors from drinking and having fun. To get a better perspective on the Campus Safety Department, I took some time with Nieto to talk about her job, the officers she works with and what it’s like being responsible for watching over 1,800 rowdy intellectuals.
Nieto has worked at Occidental College for half of her life. Starting in Facilities in 1978, she moved into her current position as head of Campus Safety in 1994. “It’s been an incredible gig,” she said. “No day is the same . . . your life is never routine.”
That’s exactly why she loves it. After 14 years directing Campus Safety, she’s seen just about everything and never fails to find the humor in the messes Oxy students-and faculty-are able to get themselves into. Nieto lives in the neighborhood, so she tends to know what’s going on and sees it all firsthand, but she’s been with Oxy for a long time and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
Nieto has seen the department undergo many changes since her arrival. “When I came to Campus Safety, we did business much differently than we do now,” Nieto said. As the world changes and technology improves, Campus Safety follows suit. The tragic events of Columbine, 9/11 and Virginia Tech brought about big changes in the policies and outlook of the officers and administration. “We tend to learn and grow and change from the horrible things that happen in our country,” she said.
More changes and improvements are on the way. Currently there are plans to install more security cameras around campus, of which there were very few before the construction of the new Rangeview dorm. Cameras will be added to the newly remodeled residence halls, aimed at monitoring traffic of people outside the Oxy community. Nieto said the cameras are not directed at student living spaces and that there would never be cameras for monitoring student activity. “That’s Big Brother . . . that’s not good,” she said.
Nieto also has a five-year plan for the Campus Safety department, which currently employs 11 full-time officers with one vacancy. She plans to incorporate a dispatcher, who will coordinate communications between students and officers, instead of the current system, which connects callers directly to an on-duty officer’s radio. This should increase efficiency, especially for officers dealing with multiple situations on a busy night.
Another improvement in Nieto’s five-year plan is an upgrade to “live scan” fingerprinting, replacing the current traditional ink-and-paper identification process. Live scan fingerprinting will be used for all potential Oxy employees, allowing real time fingerprint checks as required by a California child protection law (Penal Code Sec. 11105.3), which requires a fingerprint background check for anyone working with minors. “Even President Skotheim was fingerprinted,” Nieto said. “It starts at the top.”
The new system will allow Campus Safety to provide live scan fingerprinting as a service, although a system for how to charge for fingerprinting has yet to be developed. Students sometimes need to be fingerprinted when they go abroad and whenever volunteering for organizations that work with minors. Students will never be charged for the fingerprinting service, and there has never been a “hit” on a student check since Nieto has worked in the office.
As the Oxy community moves further out into the adjoining neighborhood, Campus Safety has responded by creating a closer relationship with the surrounding community. It’s not uncommon to see at least one Campus Safety officer show up at a loud party before LAPD arrives (if they even do arrive). There is a reason for this. Campus Safety has developed a working relationship with LAPD in which they are allowed to deal with neighborhood problems whenever they can, helping to ease the load of LAPD officers.
This has saved more than a few students from going to jail, Nieto said. She believes LAPD doesn’t have the same level of tolerance as Campus Safety officers, and many students don’t realize when it’s time to quit, especially after one to many “canteens of jungle juice” have gone down the hatch. “We sometimes have to save people from themselves,” Nieto said.
The work of a Campus Safety officer far exceeds what most of the community seems to imagine. On-duty officers patrol the campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. They miss Christmas Eve or Christmas morning with their families; they reschedule anniversaries and reunions; they skip family dinners and kids’ soccer games-all for the safety of the student body.
“They sacrifice a lot to be here and do their job,” Nieto said. “I don’t think they get enough credit for being the people that they are.” Nieto also frowns upon the title “Campo,” which most of the student community seems to use, endearingly or not. “It’s such a derogatory term,” she said.
As Director of Campus Safety, Nieto finds inspiration in the officers who serve with her. Lieutenant Joe Cunje, who has put two sons through Oxy, arrived in the U.S. with two suitcases, a toddler and a pregnant wife before making it to where he is today. “Working with him makes you a better person,” Nieto said.
Since being hired by President Gilman, Nieto has seen the campus go through a lot of changes-and faces. She has worked under the administration of Presidents Slaughter, Mitchell, Prager and now Skotheim.
“Working at Oxy has been an incredible journey,” she said. “I really believe in what Oxy stands for. We tend to be very critical of each other. We have a very lofty goal of this diversity thing and I don’t think we’ll ever get there.”
What is important, Nieto said, is the journey and the issues we face along the way. “That’s what’s kept me here,” she said. “I’m intrigued by the journey and I want to be part of it.”
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.