Sorority Row to expect heightened safety precautions with new surveillance cameras 

Following concerns raised regarding the safety of sorority women, more surveillance cameras are expected to be installed on Sorority Row at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette before the start of the Fall 2025 semester. 

According to Scott Hebert, director of the Office of Facility Management, if the project goes smoothly, from ensuring proper infrastructure is in place, to securing the surveillance cameras, it should be completed before next semester begins. Hebert said, “My objective would be to try to have these cameras installed and fully functioning before they go into all the rush activities for the fall.” 

Currently, there are some cameras installed around sorority row, however there are blind spots that do not get surveillance coverage. “We have some coverage around the sorority houses, but it’s not very much. It doesn’t cover the whole sorority campus area,” said Hebert. 

This project came to fruition with the combined efforts of UL Lafayette’s Panhellenic Council, the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Office of Facility Management. 

According to Jasim Ali, vice president of SGA, UL Lafayette’s Panhellenic Council came forward to SGA, raising their concerns regarding safety on Sorority Row and requested for the University’s support with having more surveillance cameras installed. Together, they brought the matter to the Office of Facility Management. 

In a statement shared over email, Shelbi Zaruba, Panhellenic Executive Council president, wrote, “Initially, the sorority women on campus wanted to fundraise on our own to get the security cameras we needed. However, I felt that the right plan of action was to start by reaching out to SGA for their help to achieve this goal.” 

This matter first came to light when concerns about the safety of sorority women were raised within the Panhellenic Council early this semester. Zaruba explained, “During the semester, there are many occasions when women in our community are at the houses late at night, sometimes alone, which leaves us vulnerable to random strangers.” 

She added, “There have been instances of non-students harassing the women inside the houses, dangerous individuals walking through Sorority Row, and even letters of harassment being left on vehicles. These incidents made it clear that increased safety measures were necessary.” 

Ali expressed that Sorority Row and Fraternity Row are exposed to potential dangers since they are open to the public. He said, “Our campus is an open one […]that area where sorority […] fraternities rows are […] next to a big neighborhood. So anybody can come in or out.” 

Sorority Row is home to six sororities: Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Phi Mu and Sigma Sigma Sigma. The sorority houses are used as gathering spaces, and for occasions such as Panhellenic Formal Sorority Recruitment and the making of Homecoming Parade floats. 

Ali commented, “Greek houses in general, are supposed to be an area of congregation.” He emphasized that students should be able to partake in such social activities, programs and events without having to feel unsafe. 

In response to the importance of improving safety measures around Sorority Row, Zaruba wrote, “Improving safety measures, such as installing security cameras, is essential to protect the women in our community and ensure that they feel safe in their living spaces.” 

Ali is also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. When asked about the surveillance coverage on Fraternity Row, he explained, “Those fraternity houses are unique in that they have their own systems, like our Sigma Chi’s house has our own security cameras around the area that we have access to.” 

Owing to the rather sufficient surveillance coverage on Fraternity Row, Ali shared that the area is well protected and there has not been any concerning safety issues that occurred as of late. Increasing the surveillance cameras on Sorority Row would also similarly improve the safety of the area. 

The collaborative efforts between the Panhellenic Council, SGA and the Office of Facility Management show the power of students’ voices. 

When students take the initiative to voice their concerns and enact change, most of the time, they will not go unheard. 

Zaruba expressed, “Mr. Hebert and SGA have both been very supportive of this endeavor to bring more safety precautions to Sorority Row and protect our members.” 

Ali shared, “SGA has a lot of, like, direct pipeline connections to people.” He added, “For student organizations, they’re the people that see everything that pertains to their organizations directly. If they let us know about issues, we can go ahead and take the expedited route to these people to get these problems solved.” 

“I encourage students and anybody that has any problems to come talk to us so we can kind of understand what’s the issues they’re seeing or facing so we can try to come up with a solution,” Hebert commented.