Meet the Team Keeping West Campus Clean, Safe and Connected

By Samantha Rubin

Photography By Samantha Rubin

Reporting Texas

 

Just after sunrise, blue-shirted ambassadors step into the stream of students along Guadalupe Street trading greetings, answering questions and keeping eyes on the stretch long known as The Drag. 

“In a nutshell, what we’re doing here is hospitality-heavy,” Kevin Morris Sr. said during a recent morning walk-along. “That’s why we’re always talking and vibrant. It’s about visibility.”

The West Campus Ambassador Program, funded by the University of Texas, focuses on service, cleanliness and safety in the West Campus neighborhood. 

The program was created in 2023 to address the gap between West Campus’ rapid redevelopment and its lagging safety and beautification efforts, prompting UT and local partners to revitalize the area and improve the overall campus experience. The group’s West Campus territory, its website says, is bounded by Guadalupe to the east, Lamar Boulevard to the west, West 29th Street to the north and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the south. 

To keep responses quick, the program’s public hotline, (512) 429-3287, routes calls and texts directly to ambassadors working outside — not back office staff.

“Any text messages or calls go straight to someone in the field,” said April Hamilton, communications and engagement manager at UT. “If it isn’t answered immediately, it’s because that person is physically helping someone.”

Requests come from students, parents, nearby businesses or visitors. One recent interaction involved a parent requesting a 5 a.m. ambassador escort for her daughter headed to an on-campus internship. The team coordinated resources and provided follow up. 

The program splits ambassadors into two sections: safety and cleaning. 

Safety ambassadors are available 24 hours a day from Thursday through Sunday, and from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Wednesday. They walk residents to their destinations in the late evening, monitor the area for unwanted activity, discourage panhandling and work with law enforcement when needed.

Cleaning ambassadors work from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. They collect trash, remove graffiti and handle basic maintenance in the area. They also greet visitors and conduct homeless outreach as part of the program’s hospitality efforts.

The ambassadors claim to have a record of small but consistent success in engaging homeless people on the Drag.

“Instead of telling them what to do, we suggest,” said Torey Woods, an ambassador. “Let them know they count — they’re people too.” 

On an evening “shadow shift,” ambassadors Anos Mensah and Donaye Perkins said the tenor of the work changes over the course of the day. 

“Nights tilt more toward safety,” Perkins said. “During the day it’s hospitality; at night it’s escorts and keeping an eye on busy areas.” 

Perkins said Fridays are typically the heaviest night for the ambassadors. 

During the week, specials at student-popular bars including $3 margarita night and dollar beers can cause foot traffic to spike, Perkins said. 

Ambassadors rotate through these blocks to check on crowds and help students who need a safe walk home.

They divide coverage into multiple walking zones that together span West Campus. Ambassadors often patrol alone, pairing up specifically for escorts or when conditions warrant. 

Staff said illegal dumping and scooters left in the street are recurring issues. Cleaning teams log locations and submit maintenance reports so follow-up crews can return. “Sometimes you wipe something off and it might be there again tomorrow,” Mensah said. 

Some UT campus students say they don’t know much about the ambassador program besides seeing them wave occasionally to people on Guadalupe and picking up trash. 

The program has expanded from about 10 ambassadors in 2023 to between 25 and 30 today, enabling deeper coverage into West Campus. 

Some ambassadors obtain military backgrounds while that is not required, the ambassadors are required to go through extensive training online and in person to prepare them for cleaning and safety tasks they might face. 

The ambassador program began after the University of Texas Police Department received $8 million in funding in 2020 and began allocating approximately $2 million annually toward a comprehensive West Campus safety initiative that included increased UTPD patrols, a dedicated police substation and expanded camera systems, according to the Daily Texan. Today, the West Campus Ambassadors program is operated independently from UTPD and is managed by Block by Block, a national organization focused on urban renewal, though ambassadors coordinate closely with UTPD and the Austin Police Department to monitor safety concerns in the area, according to an ambassadors spokesperson. 

The ambassadors say they are doing important work that keeps the neighborhood safer and cleaner.  At a nearby business on Guadalupe Street, staff said the ambassadors are more than a symbolic gesture toward safety.

“They’re very good — really present,” said an employee of Jenn’s Copies. “There was a time when the wind caught the awning at the front of our store and it swung out into the street. One of the ambassadors noticed and helped me bring it around the back to take it apart.”

Amid the serious work is a strong service culture. Morris joked, “We’re the Chick-Fil-A of West Campus — it’s our pleasure to serve you.” With visible patrols, smiling greetings and constant awareness of the area, the program seeks to build familiarity and trust. 

As students hurry to class, or home late at night, the blue-shirted team greets them with a simple message Morris said matters most. “You have a resource that isn’t 911. Call or text us. We’ll meet you where you are.”