Shahram Ariane resigned from his role as Director of Campus Safety for the Claremont University Consortium (CUC) and served his last day Jan. 31, according to a consortium-wide email announcement. Ariane, who became director in March 2010, has taken a “very exciting position with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” said Emergency Preparedness Planning Manager Dean Manship, who was appointed as Interim Director of Campus Safety, in an email to TSL.
Before Ariane established a system for security guards at parties and events, private companies were hired to secure the grounds, a system characterized by miscommunication, according to Eric Martinez PO ’14, Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Vice President of Finance.
The private companies “didn’t really have a sense of the campus culture here, so this way security is more acquainted with the colleges,” Martinez said. “They know exactly where to go and what to do.”
Martinez said
that Ariane was willing to work with students to reach mutual security staffing agreements.
Zachariah Oquenda CM ’16, the director of student security for the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College, also worked with Ariane to plan events.
“He was always a really reasonable guy,” Oquenda said. “Shahram seemed to be pretty understanding and to have student interests at hand.”
Oquenda, who as director of student security oversees a group of CMC students who act as security at on-campus events, said that Ariane was reasonable about accommodating requests from Oquenda to decrease the number of Campus Safety officers. They struck an agreement that increased the number of student security guards but kept the cost of security down for the club or group hosting the event.
However, Martinez said that he and other event planners at Pomona encountered cases when events would have
too many security guards, sometimes because more security guards showed up than were originally requested. This could cause tension between the group throwing the party and Campus Safety.
Ariane said that increasing the number of guards was “more of an ‘act of good will,’” Martinez said. However, Martinez said, “sometimes that can degrade the experience for the group throwing the event.”
Ricardo Garcia PO ’14 said that Ariane often increased the
number of security guards needed at events from three to four. Each security guard costs the group throwing the event $25
per hour.
“Money that we can use for food or drinks now has to go for
that extra person, so I don’t really think it’s necessary to
have an extra person, and I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of change from three
security guards to four security guards,” Garcia said.
Last semester, Martinez worked closely with student leaders at Pomona to
talk with Ariane about adjusting the security staffing requirements. Martinez said that students, Ariane, and John Lopes, Assistant Director of the Smith Campus Center and Student Programs, worked together to establish a system where a student
organization leader can reach out to Ariane and complete a walkthrough of the
potential event location and then reach an agreement on how many security
guards to employ at the event.
In an attempt to create more collaboration between students and security
during events, Martinez had begun trying to work with Ariane to plan a
“re-orientation” for club leaders who decide to host events to learn about what
Campus Safety expects from them.
“Unfortunately his early departure put that at a standstill,” he said. “However, I will be working with Dean Manship to try to do it by the end of this
month, hopefully.”
Manship wrote, “I believe that a partnership among students, faculty, staff, and Campus
Safety is essential to maintain a safe and secure environment. I ask students
to be cognizant of their surroundings, protect their belongings, lock their
doors and windows, and report suspicious behaviors to Campus Safety.”
Upon taking the Campus Safety position in 2010, Ariane brought 25 years of experience at security operations such as Dodgers Stadium and the Staples Center, according to a statement released by CUC Mar. 16 of that year. While in Claremont, he improved the relationship between the Claremont Colleges and departments in the City of Claremont and made “significant changes in Campus Safety,” according to the e-mail that announced his resignation.
“I believe he achieved his goal of creating a highly professional and
customer service focused operation while making the Claremont Colleges a safer
place,” Manship wrote.
According to the CUC email announcement, CUC is developing plans to search for a new Director of Campus Safety.
Ariane could not be reached for comment.
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