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USAC secures funding for Circle of 6 campus safety app

By Hannah Rosson

Oct. 30, 2014 1:49 a.m.

A UCLA-specific campus safety application for smartphones will soon be available to students, after more than a year of attempts to secure funding by UCLA student leaders.

The app, called Circle of 6, allows students to easily contact six preselected people in the event of an emergency. The app gives students the option to send the six people pretyped messages to quickly communicate with friends or family if they find themselves in danger. The app will feature functions unique to UCLA, such as quick access to phone numbers for the university police department, the Office of Residential Life, the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica, UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services’ 24-hour hotline and the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council Internal Vice President’s office declined to disclose the exact amount of funds spent on the contract. But Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, who also helped fundraise for the app, said it cost between $10,000 and $15,000.

USAC officers secured funding for the app around the end of spring quarter, Badalich said. The initial costs cover the expenses associated with technical support from the Circle of 6 team, training leaders how to teach others to use the app and marketing, said last year’s Internal Vice President Avi Oved.

In addition to the cost of the contract, USAC offices may have to pay a maintenance fee each year, Oved said.

Oved said student leaders struggled to obtain funding because it was difficult to negotiate an affordable deal.

He added that if all goes according to plan, students with smartphones will be able to download the new app toward the end of fall quarter.

Earlier in the year, the development of the UCLA version of the Circle of 6 app was put on hold when funding initially allocated to the app was redistributed to students.

USAC initially granted Oved and Badalich $15,500 of surplus funds for the development of the app, but the allocation of surplus funds to councilmember initiatives was met with resistance from more than 100 students at a USAC meeting in January. USAC returned the $15,500 allocation to student groups at the meeting.

Oved said he thinks the app will be a great resource for students.

“This tool is an opportunity to give students, faculty and staff another means to protect themselves,” Badalich said.

She added that she thinks the app is not a tool to prevent sexual assault. Instead, it is meant to provide a compact set of resources to students. Badalich added that she thinks no app can prevent sexual assault, and Circle of 6 will not be promoted in this way at UCLA.

Oved said he is not yet sure what he considers a successful download rate when the app comes out.

Moving forward, the Internal Vice President’s office hopes to promote the app at New Student Orientation before the next academic year.

Compiled by Hannah Rosson, Bruin contributor.

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