June 2: Campus Safety, Alert System, and Housing Assignments

Dear parents and families,

Nothing is more important than the safety of our community. This week, we focus on campus safety alerts, cybersecurity, and how your student can begin getting involved in campus life.

Action Item Tracker

Register to attend the Virtual Information Session June 23 This Zoom webinar for families and their students will cover important topics including registering for classes, navigating residential living, hearing advice from current students, and transitioning to college. The webinar will be recorded, and a link will be posted on the New Student Reception website soon after.

Featured Topic: Campus Safety & Emergency Alerts

Wake Forest is a beautiful and well-run campus that is situated within a small city. Unfortunately, there is no amount of preparation or planning that can make us immune to crime.

Our Wake Forest University Police Department (WFUPD) is dedicated to protecting and assisting the campus. However, safety is a shared responsibility. Students are encouraged to use these safety recommendations from University Police. We encourage families to:

• Sign Up for Alerts: Campus Safety Alerts are not sent to families automatically. To receive alerts on your mobile phone:
  1. Search for and download the WakeSafe app.
  2. Follow the prompts to Allow Notifications.
• Remind your student to: Register their Mobile Phone in Workday and download and install Alertus on their student laptop for real-time, full-screen safety alerts. We also encourage students to download and use the WakeSafe app.
• Have a conversation with your student about safety: Do you have expectations that they don’t walk alone late at night, etc.? Does what you consider ‘safe’ align with your student’s ideas?

Cybersecurity Reinforcement

Information Systems has a robust website about information security. Encourage your student to follow these top practices:

1. Never share your ID and password with anyone. Parents and families should never request to use their student’s WFU credentials; that is a serious violation of our computing policy.
2. Create and use a Passkey whenever available for WFU and other accounts.
3. Protect Social Media by avoiding the sharing of personal details that could be used for security answers.
4. Be aware of phishing scams and think before you click.

Think Now About Engagement and Community

Finding a sense of belonging is a critical part of the transition to college life — and one of the best ways to do that is by getting involved in campus life and activities. Here are a few things for you and your students to begin thinking about now, so they can make their best start:

• The Office of Student Engagement is here to help every Deacon find their place. Encourage your student to review all the ways this office can assist them.
• Student Organizations: Wake Forest has nearly 200 chartered student organizations. Students can find all of them on The Link, our student engagement platform (students must log in with their WFU email). Encourage your student to start thinking now about groups they might wish to join and how they might want to be involved.
• Involvement Fair: Encourage your student to attend the Fall Involvement Fair on August 27 from 3-6 p.m. and sign up for a handful of campus clubs and organizations to join.

Closing Thoughts: Room Assignments coming out next week

• Students will be able to view their assignment (and their roommate, if applicable) in the Housing Portal by June 5 if they have: submitted their Deacon OneCard photo; registered their cell phone in Workday; and they (and you, if under 18) have signed the housing and dining agreements.
  • Students can check the status of these items in their Housing Portal and receive regular reminders from Residence Life and Housing about any outstanding items.
• When they receive their housing assignment, students should also schedule a check-in time. They must check in at that appointment time on move-in day.
  • Important note for families with older students at Wake: this is a change from how we have done move-in in the past: students will only be allowed to check in at their appointment time. We are doing this to help limit wait times and relieve crowding in the residence halls.
• Even if your student is waiting on an acceptance to a Pre-Orientation program, they should still schedule a move-in time for August 18; we will shift that to August 14 if they are accepted into a Pre-Orientation program. Programs with an August 13 arrival will not require appointments, so those will be canceled.
• If your student is in a double room, encourage them to reach out to their roommate promptly to introduce themselves and begin planning their shared space.
• Students will receive a Roomie link with their housing assignment, allowing them to view a 3D model of their room to aid visualization and planning.
• Please discourage your student from scouring the Internet for intel on their new roommate/suitemates — and families, please don’t do it either 🙂 Every student has posted something and/or has been tagged on social media that does not necessarily represent them. Instead, encourage students to communicate and begin getting to know each other.
• Remember: a roommate assignment is not meant to engineer friendships; it is about matching people with compatible living preferences as expressed on the Housing and Dining form. A roommate doesn’t have to like the same things or share the same background to be a good match. And students will almost certainly learn more from a roommate who is unlike them.
• Please know that students’ room assignments will not be changed (either to a new hall or a new roommate), so your students (or you!) should not ask Residence Life and Housing for changes. Instead, students should focus on getting to know their roommate and embracing their new community.

In matters of roommates, lean into the wise words of Ted Lasso: be curious, not judgmental 😉

Until next Tuesday,

Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)
Executive Director of Family Communications