The final word: Safety at StFX
March 25, 2026 1:49 PM
Here at StFX, the university strives to provide a safe and secure campus for all students, faculty and staff. The responsibility of upholding everyone’s safety falls into the hands of the Safety and Security Department, as well as within the collective support and cooperation of the Xaverian community.
Traditionally, StFX has employed a student run campus police force, offering employment opportunities and responsibilities for students. StFX has decided to implement a new form of security, creating a campus security force that will be run along with the university’s Safety and Security Department.
Within this new campus security force, there will be positions available for students that are interested, and applications available online.
As of now, there is still a search for the Director of Safety and Security underway; job postings for this position are on the StFX website, published in several newspapers such as the Casket and the Chronicle Herald, as well as on several professional job websites.
Keith Publicover, vice president of recruitment and student experience, states that the administration is moving on with their original plan and is set to start interviews in late March, keeping on schedule with the search for the Director of Safety and Security.
He also says that they are in the early stages of interviewing the students who have applied for the campus security positions.
There has been some talk surrounding discrimination against international students within the hiring process, however, as Publicover points out, international students need to have a work visa attached to their student visa in order to be allowed to work in Canada. Criminal record checks are also hard to receive when abroad.
The current campus police force are not quick to comment on their decision to apply for the new campus security positions. While many are reluctant to publicly admit submitting applications, many also testify that salary is their main concern, and they have submitted applications already, simply because they need the work.
There are some complaints about the strictness of the application process for campus security, such as the fact that there is a 20 dollar fee for a police check, as well as three references.
The Golden X Inn is also in the process of hiring a specific security staff of campus police members to work solely at the Inn.
Overall, it appears that the new campus security positions will catalyze change on campus. However, in the end, it comes down to the fact that students need to be protected and safe no matter who is in charge.
