Nearly 12 percent of emergency phones at Fresno State are currently broken and won’t be able to be used by students.

Fresno State has 155 emergency phones throughout the university; 69 of those are the big blue pillars around campus.  

These 69 emergency phones can be found from Bulldog Stadium all the way to the Save Mart Center. As of Tuesday night there are eight broken phones throughout campus.

Parking lot P2 and the University Agricultural Laboratory both have more than one broken emergency phone near each other.

According to Amy Luna, manager of emergency operations and business continuity for Fresno State, the emergency phones are tested monthly for functionality. If they have any issues, they are reported for repairs.

Luna also said that during the winter there are more issues with the emergency phones, because of moisture that interferes with the phone lines.

In addition, some of these emergency phones do not appear on the campus map and two are not at the spots that the official map indicates.

These emergency phones were first installed in 1991 as a means for safety on campus, especially at night when buildings were closed or inaccessible.

Emergency phones on campus are available in all classrooms and office phones can be used as emergency phones by simply dialing 911 or 88400 for direct police assistance.

Luna said these phones play an important role on campus.  

“The most common calls are regarding a vehicles dead battery, to request an officer to report a crime or accidental calls from elevators,” Luna said. “We work very hard to keep this resource available to the campus community so that they have a convenient way to contact the police department.”

Last November, members of Associated Student, Inc. (ASI), campus police and administration did a night walk through campus.

The night walk was used to identified “dark spots” and problem areas on campus that may need to be addressed for safety concerns.  ASI senator for Parking and Safety Christopher Rodriguez said that during the walk a “dark spot” between the Science I building and the Science II building was identified.

Rodriguez also said that during the night walk they also took a look at the emergency blue phones and identified phones that had problems.  

Rodriguez added that if there are any safety concerns around campus, a student should tell him or go to the police department so that they can be addressed as soon as possible.