Eastern Michigan University's student body president says the improvement in safety on and off campus from a year ago is "100 percent." Desmond Miller and his fellow students return to class Wednesday.
Miller says EMU and the city of Ypsilanti have made safety a priority in the wake of the off-campus murder of student-athlete Demarius Reed last October and the un-solved homicide of student Julia Niswender in her off-campus apartment in December of 2012.
Still, Miller would like to see EMU do a better job of connecting with the city.
"I think building that relationship and having a stronger relationship between EMU and Ypsi is a huge thing, and can solve a lot of problems," Miller says.
But Miller applauds EMU police for working with their Ypsilanti counterparts to help keep students safe.
"We've tried to set up monthly meetings to check in between each other, to see what things from a student standpoint want to see improved, and what things from the city's end what they were doing to be improved. So it's been a lot of great work, which I'm very happy about."
Miller says adding more EMU police officers and improving lighting on and around campus have made a big difference.
The university has also installed additional security cameras and automated external defibrillators around campus, and is renovating its public safety offices to accommodate the newly hired officers.