The University of Texas at Austin has extended its West Campus Ambassadors program to a second year and expanded its specialized safety, cleaning, and hospitality services to cover a larger area. This announcement follows a successful first year for the team dedicated to revitalizing Austin’s West Campus neighborhood, which is home to more than 20,000 UT students each academic year and frequented by thousands of university employees and visitors.
Since the program began in August 2023, the West Campus Ambassadors have:
– Escorted over 500 people safely throughout West Campus.
– Hauled away over 30,000 pounds of trash.
– Greeted and engaged with over 15,000 visitors.
– Removed over 2,000 pieces of graffiti.
During a news conference on The Drag today, UT President Jay Hartzell celebrated these accomplishments and outlined enhancements for the program’s second year. These include:
– Expanding the consistency and quality of safety and cleaning services across all of West Campus, bounded by Lamar Boulevard, Guadalupe Street, 29th Street, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
– Extending Safety Ambassadors’ services to be available 24 hours a day from Thursday through Sunday, in addition to 7 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. Monday through Wednesday.
– Increasing the Ambassadors team from 18 members to 30.
The West Campus Ambassadors program is part of the university’s comprehensive safety and security campaign. It follows an $8 million allocation by the University of Texas System Board of Regents in 2020 for improvements in the area. Since then, UT has installed high-activity location observation (HALO) cameras, opened a UT Police Department satellite office, and significantly increased UTPD foot and bicycle patrols.
“The safety of our students, faculty and staff continues to be our top priority, and we appreciate the West Campus Ambassadors for all they are doing,” said UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife. “We look forward to seeing the continued revitalization of West Campus and thank President Hartzell for his commitment to improving the area that surrounds our great University.”
“This is a remarkable program with proven results, and we are excited to extend the West Campus Ambassadors for a second year,” said Hartzell. “This program is one of many at UT that prioritizes the safety of our students, faculty and staff, and we believe the enhancements will continue to bolster the neighborhood. Thank you to the chairman and the Board of Regents for their investment and the business and community leaders who support this effort.”
The program complements other initiatives sponsored by UT including SURE Walk—which offers walks or rides from an on-campus location to West Campus—and UT Night Rides which provides Lyft rides from various campuses.
Managed by Block by Block—a national leader in urban renewal—the program has been active in Austin for more than seven years providing similar services to organizations like Downtown Austin Alliance.
The West Campus Ambassadors are supported by over 70 businesses and community groups in the area.
