Featured News & Events

 

Siren alert system to be tested April 3

Longwood’s new public address/siren warning system will be tested Thursday, April 3, at 3:30 p.m. The emergency alert system will transmit a siren tone followed by a voice message stating that a test is being performed. The alert siren and voice message will be transmitted through three speaker arrays across campus and at Lancer Park, Longwood Village and the athletic fields at Johnston Drive. The emergency alert system will be tested simultaneously and will include a siren alert along with a public address voice message. Officials anticipate that the siren tones will be heard within a half-mile of the main campus and within a quarter-mile of the off-campus residence locations. For more information, visit http://www.longwood.edu/news/releases/2008/sirentest.html or phone 395-2940.

The Butt Stops Here!

James Meaden gathers up some of the cigarette butts for the campus butt bin.

Have you noticed a decrease in the number of cigarette butts on campus?  If so, it may be the result of an educational campaign directed by Longwood student James Meaden who has been working this semester on the intern project.  The purpose of the campaign is to reduce the amount of cigarette litter on campus and to educate smokers to “Smoke Responsibly, Use Receptacles.”  Posters, public service announcements, press releases and portable ashtrays have been distributed as part of the project.

A large “butt bin” has been placed near Brock Commons as visual evidence of the many cigarettes that are discarded improperly.  Members of the Longwood facilities department have been working hard to pick up butts and put them in the bin resulting in unnecessary costs in time, money and effort.  Although smoking is permitted in designated areas on campus, many smokers are not disposing of their cigarettes in the receptacles provided. 

A major thrust of the campaign is to educate people that cigarette butts are litter and can harm the environment. According to Katie Register, executive director of Clean VA Waterways, the acetate “filters of cigarettes are not biodegradable and can take many years to decompose.   They also present a threat to wildlife and cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creates that mistake the filters for food. “

It is hoped that this campaign will remind people to think twice before stomping out that butt on the sidewalk.  As the campaign states:  “Smoke Responsibly—Use Receptacles.”