Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University leaders and local and state law enforcement officials met Tuesday [Aug. 18] to discuss plans to make MSU gamedays this fall as safe and smooth as possible on campus and city and state roadways.
MSU President Mark E. Keenum and other university leaders met with Department of Public Safety Commissioner Albert E. Santa Cruz and Deputy Administrator Ken Magee, Oktibbeha County Sheriff Steve Gladney, Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols, Mississippi Highway Patrol Director Col. Donnell Berry, MSU Police Chief Vance Rice and Lt. Brad Massey, and Craig Carter representing the Mississippi Department of Transportation, among others.
“We are very thankful for the cooperation of so many local and state agencies as we work to create an enjoyable gameday experience for everyone who visits MSU,” Keenum said. “We face challenging traffic and parking issues on football Saturdays, but sharing the resources of the city, county, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety enhances our ability to address these issues.”
Keenum said MSU coordinates operations with gameday partners to make traffic flow and parking as efficient as possible for the thousands of visitors who will come to campus this fall.
Santa Cruz said, “The visibility of all the agencies involved will play a huge role in traffic safety on gamedays. Drivers are more inclined to focus and pay attention to other drivers when those in uniform are managing traffic.”
Gladney said the Sheriff’s Department works with the university on a wide range of law enforcement and public safety issues.
“All of us have worked well together for a very long time, so we’re all on the same page. With the campus construction and number of people we now have attending games, fans will have to be patient with us, and we will all do our best to make everything run smoothly,” Gladney added.
Nichols concurred, “We’ll all work as one big unit to get people in and out of town as safely and quickly as possible. All agencies involved will be using their social media platforms and cross-posting with each other to keep fans informed.”
Rice said that current construction projects and necessary road closures on campus are creating expanded challenges this season.
“We ask for patience from all of our MSU friends and fans as we work together to ensure maximum efficiency, a positive gameday experience, and—first and foremost—safety for everyone involved,” Rice said.
MSU is Mississippi’s flagship research university, available online at www.msstate.edu.