Here are some basics around in-person safety when it comes to dealing with people who are demonstrating behaviour of concern: 

UW PD 

If you experience threatening behaviour, UW PD is here to help. 

• In emergency situations, 911 remains the number to call, but be prepared to identify that you are calling from the UW Seattle campus and give our building/ floor/ office number: Padelford Hall, A-wing, Plaza Level, Suite A-002. 
• UW PD’s non-emergency number is 206-685-8973 and remember - this number is listed under the handsets of your office phones. Add it to your mobile as a contact if you have not already. 

911 calls made from office phones will go directly to UW PD, and mobile phones pinging on campus will usually connect with UW PD or Washington State Patrol.  

Dedicated Outreach at UW for People Experiencing Homelessness 

• Samya Murthy, REACH UW Outreach Coordinator (206-685-8973) 

• Dedicated outreach worker at the UW Seattle campus with a goal to build relationships with people experiencing homelessness and connect them with the help they need. 

Safety in Numbers 

• We keep our doors open by default so that where possible; this is for several reasons, but an important one is to prevent someone from being penned into a small office with their exit shut. 

• Stay aware of discussions you can hear in the office where possible; if it sounds like someone might need some help, pop your head out and offer support if you feel comfortable. 

• Where possible, coordinate with others and be ready to call UW PD. Do not assume someone else will do it first or that duplicate calls will be redundant. 

• Where possible, work to avoid situations where a single person is left alone in the office with doors unlocked, even for part of the day – close and lock the doors until colleagues return. Over an extended period, arrange to work remotely if necessary. 

• To ensure no staff member is left alone in the office, notify team members if you will be out. If your absence would leave only one person in the office, contact the team members scheduled to be in the office with you as soon as possible via phone or text message (instead of Teams). This notification should be made promptly to prevent unnecessary commuting.

- Arielle: 562-400-6841 

- Gio: 206-719-2497 

- Harjot: 360-747-1193 

- John: 206-403-5477 

- Rachel: 408-963-3270 

- Siya: 507-581-4050 

Communications 

• Use Teams to communicate silently with others in the office where possible if you’re the one experiencing an interaction making you uncomfortable – it may be easier than reaching for the phone, but use whatever method is most appropriate for your circumstances. 

• If you’re nearby and suspect someone may need help, pop your head in or call to ask if they need help. Use duress phrases on the phone so someone can confirm they need help in a way that doesn’t escalate things – an example might be “If you need help, say that you don’t need that DARS audit right now.” 

• If you’re calling out on the phone for help, a suggestion may be either a pre-arranged duress phrase, or a phrase so obviously off that it prompts questions to a staff listener, but a student or member of the public wouldn’t immediately suspect anything. An example might be “Can you help me use a minor audit exception to remove a class from a transcript?”   

Barriers & Tools 

• If things start to escalate but aren’t yet an emergency, avoid conflict and work to keep large furniture in between you and the person in question where possible. 

• Our rolling office chairs, while light, are bulky enough that they can act as a barrier or something that can push someone back for a short time. 

• The standing lamps and the iPad stand in our main lobby area could be used as tools to break windows and clear glass for an emergency exit. 

• Our office space only has one entry/exit route, so thinking in calmer times about how you’d use windows or where you’d try to move to in an emergency if you need to evacuate is a good idea.  

Zoom 

Next, here are some steps that can be used in the virtual space to protect ourselves from abuse: 

• While it’s disappointing that there isn’t a way to block an individual quickly and easily from making appointments at the source through ScheduleOnce, we can still unilaterally cancel appointments when they’re made if the appointment looks like it’s being made by a person of concern. 

• Remember it is possible to block/ mute someone, boot them out, and report them on Zoom. For a meeting in progress, right clicking on their username in zoom will bring up the option to mute, remove, and report. 

If the interaction happened in a drop-in session that has since finished, or they left before you could act, here’s how to report them:  

• Sign in to Zoom on the web. For drop-ins   

• In the navigation menu, click Meetings.  

• Click the Previous tab.  

• Hover over a meeting or webinar, then click Report to Zoom and follow the prompts.   

You can change settings around meeting security for your own zoom room. Most advanced settings are only available through the settings page on the browser-based version of zoom, so use that rather than the app to look at security settings. 

Additional Considerations 

• Same goes on Teams: Technically, anyone within UW can start a message thread with anyone else on teams. Certain contacts can be manually blocked, and your status can be set to a blanket “do not disturb” that allows you to create a “permitted users” list of people who can still reach you even when “do not disturb” is on. 

• An app called “SafeZone” exists that can be downloaded onto computers or mobile devices that allows you to signal for assistance on campus. UW-IT or CAS-IT will need to be the ones to install the app on your device; it’s not available for download from the web, but uses a UW NetID sign on. 

• Sign up for UW Alert text messages. UW Alerts are issued by the Crisis Communications teams at each campus in the event of an incident requiring your awareness and action — to remain in place, leave an area of campus or avoid an area. You may already receive UW Alerts via email, but please check your account to make sure you’re receiving alerts via text message. 

• Note: After you add your information, go to Groups (in the purple bar at the top of the UW Alert signup page) to select the UW Seattle campus. If you do not select a group, you will not receive messages.

Immigration enforcement on-campus

If a student, faculty member or staff person on a UW campus or in a UW location is approached by a federal enforcement officer who requests access to UW facilities, inquires about members of the campus community or requests access to records, please follow these guidelines.