With the recent tragedy at Northern Illinois University and the upcoming “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day” event this weekend on campus, we want to write and let you know what we are doing at Armory House Properties to help ensure the safety and security of your student. 

We have posted flyers as well as sent an email encouraging residents to register for the Emergency Text Messaging System which the U. of I. has now made available for all students and staff.  We have provided residents the link for their convenience in signing up, but we know that many of the residents have not yet taken advantage of this service.

The U. of I. is one of the first universities to offer the Emergency Text Messaging system as a valuable communication tool to immediately make students and staff aware, via their cell phones, of any security issues on campus.  You may wish to check with your student to see if they have registered online for this service.

In addition, we know that you have already received a letter from the Chancellor concerning the “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day” unauthorized event this weekend on campus.  We hope you will take the opportunity to talk with your student about responsible behavior.  You may be interested in the following link from the Moms and Dads Association website concerning this issue. 

We will be enforcing a no-guest policy for Armory House Main and Armory House Suites this weekend to discourage parties and will be having conversations with our staff, particularly our Resident Advisor staff, concerning how to deal with any situations that might arise.  We take the security of our residents seriously and do all that we can to provide a safe environment.

As parents of a University of Illinois student ourselves, we know that although our children have moved away from home they are never far from our hearts.  We hope the information we have shared in this letter will help keep you informed and better able to have a conversation with your student about these security issues.