Personalized safety app available to students, faculty and staff
Circle of 6 U, a personal safety app designed to promote personal safety on campus and off, has been customized for the University of Houston-Clear Lake and is now available to students, faculty and staff.
The app is a tool implemented to help prevent sexual violence and has been adopted by the UH-System in time for April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
A news release by Circle of 6 estimates that over 100,000 students across the University of Houston System, including Main Campus, Downtown, Clear Lake and Victoria, will have access to this app.
“I think students see this as another demonstration of our commitment to provide them with the tools and resources that will help eliminate the threat of this happening on our campus,” said Richard Baker, Title IX coordinator for the University of Houston-Main Campus, in an interview with Houston Public Media.
David Rachita, interim dean of students, said that the app was acquired in response to an initiative led by the Office of Equal Opportunity Services at the University of Houston and that all four campuses will have a customized version of the app including resources available at each campus.
These resources include the university’s Title IX coordinator, a confidential counseling hotline, MySafeCampus hotline and campus police.
“I describe Circle of 6 U as your personal panic button,” Rachita said. “A user can program the app to immediately message six emergency contacts. It can also be programmed to allow your contact to know where you are.”
Since the UHCL customized version of Circle of 6 U app is so new, many students, such as Jenique Feng, fitness and human performance major, were not aware of it.
“I had no idea that there was an app like this available for us; it’s something worth looking into,” Feng said.
In 2011, Vice President Joe Biden, Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy created a challenge for developers to create an app to help prevent and report sexual assaults and violence on college campuses.
“Young women face the highest rates of dating violence and sexual assault,” said Sebelius, in her official blog post. “Nineteen percent (nearly 1 in 5) of women report experiencing sexual assault while in college.”
Nancy Schwartzman, mobile app developer and CEO of Tech 4 Good, created Circle of 6 U in response to the challenge. The app was one of two winners of the 2011 national ‘Apps Against Abuse’ technology challenge.
“Every college is concerned about student safety,” Schwartzman said in a Feb. 2014 press release for Circle of 6. “By offering Circle of 6U as a customized version of our app, we embed a school’s specific look, style, safety numbers and resources directly into the phone, so students have fast access to on-campus help when they need it. And with the customized push notification platform, administrators can quickly and easily get in touch with students. This goes way beyond blue safety lights on a dark path.”
The app is free and can be downloaded on either an Android or iPhone. It is designed to allow users to seek help quickly and discreetly, and it can contact a user’s circle with only two taps.
To begin using the app, users will select between three to six trusted people to add to their circle. The app will automatically send a text message to all selected people confirming that they have been added to the user’s circle.
If users are ever in a situation where they feel uncomfortable or need help, they simply open the app and click the center icon “ask my circle to,” then select one of three options to send a text message to all six people in their circle requesting help. For example, users can choose to send a text message that says, “Come and get me, I need help getting home safely” with their exact location using GPS coordinates, “Call and pretend you need me. I need an interruption,” or “I need to talk,” simultaneously to all six people in their circle.
After users have received the help they need or no longer feel they are in danger, they have the option of sending a text message that says, “I’ve gotten help, thanks. You’re the best, Circle of 6!” to their circle contacts.
Not only can users text people they have added to their circle, but they also have the option of making phone calls. They can either call on-campus resources or another number they have added to their custom call list.
Nichole Eslinger, Title IX coordinator for the University of Houston-Clear Lake, says “Circle of 6U is a wonderful safety tool,” but wants to remind people to not rely solely on this app for their protection.
“A downside could be that your phone battery runs out or you are not getting a signal,” Eslinger said.
Eslinger also has a safety reminder for students, staff and faculty while on campus.
“We tend to feel safe in familiar surroundings like our UHCL campus, and we are likely to let our guard down,” Eslinger said. “We need to remind ourselves to be aware, notice our surroundings and trust our instincts.”
Watch the video by The Signal reporter Alexis Davlin about when to use the app!
