by Shannon Kelly ’26 on February 12, 2026

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News

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On Friday, Feb. 6, I interviewed chief of public safety Chad Carnegie. We discussed the new renovations to the Public Safety office and initiatives that are being worked on, and I got a tour of the new building, which is now located on the St. Joseph’s side of Raymond Hall. The Chief explained that their facility includes a roll call room, emergency operations center, kitchen, and separate men’s and women’s locker rooms. Chief Carnegie previously worked at Georgetown University for 11 years at the college police department. He came to Providence College in 2022 and, “likes a challenge to not be stagnant.” We discussed his upbringing and the Chief told me that he was raised in Florida, where he also worked as a police officer. 

We discussed the difference in pace in comparison to being a police officer and working on a college campus. Chief Carnegie explained that the college campus atmosphere is slower compared to being a police officer. When asked about community initiatives, Chief Carnegie explained that the Office of Public Safety prioritizes caring for the students. He said that the office seeks to show that they do not just care about students when they’re at their worst, but wants to be a supporting presence in their everyday lives too. He said that recently, Public Safety handed out 150 pizzas to students on and off campus to foster connections. In November, Public Safety hosted an event with donuts and coffee in hopes to engage in conversation with students, as well as faculty. 

Afterwards, I asked Chief Carnegie about any changes in Public Safety that he has noticed during his time here. He said that he has amazing officers and a deep appreciation for the department as a whole. He emphasized that he is “striving to make it the best it can be” and that working towards greatness has become the culture at Public Safety during his time here. He explained that he was proud of the work that is being done and that it is not just him, it’s everybody else in the department. Chief Carnegie also divulged that he just presented on emergency management to Student Congress, the Board of Trustees, and parents on the leadership board. 

The tragic Brown University shooting was also mentioned during our conversation, and Chief Carnegie told me that as many students have now noticed, the doors to main buildings are now closed on the weekends. He said that there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now following the shooting at Brown to ensure that our campus is prepared and can respond effectively to an emergency. He told me that the 900+ cameras on campus are being audited, the gate entrances are being looked at, and policies regarding locking doors in classrooms are also a topic of discussion. 

The last question I asked Chief Carnegie had to do with any advice pertaining to safety that he might offer to Providence College community members. The Chief told me that situational awareness is key and we must be thinking about what is going on around us. He emphasized that Public Safety is here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and that they are a resource for all. Chief Carnegie ended with expressing his gratitude to Father Sicard, O.P. ’78, ’82G, Dean of Students Steven Sears, and John Sweeney for their efforts in support of the new Public Safety building. He encouraged people to reach out, have fun, enjoy their time here, and always remember that “we’re all Friars.” 

by Shannon Kelly ’26 on November 13, 2025

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News

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The Offices of Public Safety, Transportation, and Parking recently announced that the Food for Fines initiative will return this holiday season. This initiative offers undergraduate students, graduate students, GAs, faculty, and staff a chance to bring in five non-perishable food items or hygienic products, and in turn, receive a void on one $25 parking citation that does not include a safety violation. Students are encouraged to clear more than one parking citation, as you can submit 10 items to receive two voids. 

The purpose of this program goes beyond simply clearing parking tickets. The collected items are donated to a local food bank, ultimately helping the community, which is especially important when several people in Rhode Island are facing food insecurity. Food for Fines—commonly referred to as Donations for Citation—has proved to be extremely successful at other colleges and universities, at times saving students tens of thousands of dollars on parking citations. There is hope that there will be similar effects here at PC.

This initiative is being launched thanks to the efforts of three Providence College students, namely Jacob Bowser ’28, Kate Fradin ’26, and Rory Sheridan ’27. This semester, all three students are in Dr. Rick Battistoni’s Community Organizing class. This course focuses on understanding social, economic, and political problems through the lens of organizers and allows students to act on these problems through community-oriented practices. They initiated a conversation with both Public Safety and the Office of Transportation, with all agreeing to a two-week pilot initiative, though the students are hoping to make this a permanent policy change. 

Student support is necessary in order to best assist our local community, and the implementation of this program will allow it to run longer. This effort was in effect last week, Monday–Wednesday, Nov. 10–12, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will also be in effect Monday–Wednesday, 17–19, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. The donation drop-off location is the Transportation Office, which is located in Alumni Hall LL06.  

by Sarah McLaughlin '23 on April 20, 2023
Editor-in-Chief

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Editor's Column

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A key part of what makes a community is building a bond of trust and communication. In general, the Providence College student body would agree that these things are important for fostering a healthy “Friar Family.” Many students have expressed concerns regarding the communication we receive regarding incidents that occur on campus. When students hear about on-campus incidents from rumors and social media prior to hearing from official sources—or in place of them entirely—we foster an environment of gossip, misinformation, and mistrust.

One example of students’ lack of knowledge is when fire alarms go off in dorm buildings. Often, these are fire drills, and at the beginning of the year, public safety officers meet with students outside to inform them of the safety and evacuation protocols. However, when the fire alarm goes off later on in the year, students are seemingly never informed of whether these instances are drills, someone pulling the alarm, or actual emergencies. “The fire alarm went off at 3 a.m. one night in Davis when it was below freezing, and we all had to evacuate, and we still have yet to learn why this happened,” one student recounted. This lack of information is what causes rumors to spread.

Regarding the incident which occurred off-campus on April 1, students received the information published by the College in an email, which reflects the press release The Cowl included in this week’s issue. This email was sent at 3:58 p.m., while the incident occurred in the morning, as this is when students noticed police activity on-campus. Students were not informed of what happened on-campus, only that an off-campus incident occurred, which fostered more confusion in an already confusing situation. Prior to finding out the name of the student involved by reading news articles, students took to social media to speculate. Names were thrown around which turned out to be completely incorrect. The fact that some students had to face these random accusations and gossip is the fault of both the students for jumping to conclusions instead of waiting for information and of the College for not sending timely updates on the situation.

One member of The Cowl’s editorial board spoke on the matter: “When it involves the safety of the Providence College community, we have the right to be informed of what’s going on. There’s not an efficient system and way of doing that—finding out hours after something happened is unacceptable.” The Cowl hopes we can speak on behalf of the student body when we say that we hope the College will consider our concerns.