After the shootings at Virginia Tech in spring 2007, most colleges and universities around the country took immediate steps to beef up security. Many implemented systems like cAlert, an emergency notification system that uses e-mail, cell phones, and telephones to quickly contact students and staff. Others added police officers, late-night transportation options, security cameras, and other safety enhancements.

The University of Chicago, which had implemented a cAlert system following the Virginia Tech shootings, was in the process of exploring additional safety strategies when it was hit with a tragedy of its own: a graduate student named Amadou Cisse was shot and killed near the campus during what police believe was an attempted robbery.

“It was the first incident like that in 30 years,” says Julie Peterson, University of Chicago’s Vice President for Communications. Nevertheless, Peterson says, Cisse’s killing and the related robberies “raised a number of questions and concerns.”

In response, the university has put into play a number of new safety systems, including an increase in police patrols and officers on bicycles, a revised safety alert system to handle a broader range of crime incidents, two more SafeRide vans for the transportation service, and a new police substation.

As new warning systems are put in place on campuses around the country, the next question becomes how often and under what circumstances should these different kinds of warning systems be used.

Many colleges and universities are trying to strike a balance. “On the one hand, there are the expectations of parents, students, and the public to be notified quickly of a potentially dangerous situation,” Peterson says. “But on the other hand, you can’t afford to overdo it. If you do, a warning can become like background noise. You start to ignore it.”

“Everyone is grappling with this issue,” Peterson adds. “In an information-rich environment, the question becomes: ‘How do we avoid overload?’ We want to make sure an emergency notification has a strong impact—that it is really noticeable.”

Mills College, for example, installed Web-based emergency notification systems that will allow college administrators to send out simultaneous alerts to all campus community members who sign up for the service.

The system can send out an alert 24-7 via half a dozen methods, including text messaging, instant messaging, cell phones, home phones, or work phones. The Mills system can even document whether the recipient of the alert actually listened to the entire message, allowing administrators to pinpoint individuals who may not have received an important warning.

Mills is also installing panic buttons around more isolated parts of their campuses as well as access controls in residence halls that require a student ID to enter.

Other campuses are also educating their faculty about how to respond to an emergency. Dan Lawson, Director of Public Safety for the University of San Francisco, is overseeing efforts to teach faculty how to prepare for and react to any emergency, including earthquakes, fires, bombs, acts of terrorism, or shootings.

“The more we get faculty involved, the better, because faculty members have direct contact with students,” says Lawson, a retired captain of the San Francisco Police Department with 38 years in law enforcement. “If they feel personally prepared, they’ll be more of a resource than even security personnel or police. In an emergency, faculty will be at ground zero to lock up doors, close windows, or evacuate a classroom.”

Fortunately, fatal attacks against students are extremely rare. The general consensus among college officials and police is that campuses are some of the safest places a student can be.

"We need to keep everything in perspective,” Lawson says. “The Virginia Tech massacre was a tragic event and I don’t mean to diminish it in any way, but the fact is that violence on campuses across the country is still relatively rare. A student has a better chance of being struck by lightning than being killed on a campus like this.” But that said, most college officials are not taking any chances.

“Right after the Virginia Tech shootings, almost every university or college wanted to find quick ways to improve emergency communications,” says John VonThaden, Director, Advanced Solutions, Public Safety Systems Division of Federal Signal. “No matter how safe a campus is—and most are safe—you still need to think about the unthinkable and have a plan to deal with it.”

In the past year, the number of universities and colleges that have installed Federal Signal campus safety and security systems has more than quadrupled. And that number should continue to rise in the wake of a new higher education law signed by former President George W. Bush. Colleges will now be required to “immediately notify” their students and staff upon confirmation of a significant campus emergency, such as an active shooter situation.

One school that is taking extra precautions is Webber International University in Babson Park, Florida, which recently installed a new, state-of-the-art mass notification system.

“It’s one of those things you hope you never need,” said University President Rex Yentes, “but you’re glad you have it, just in case.”

What to Ask School Officials
As colleges and universities beef up security measures, people naturally want to know more about them: What new systems have been put into place? How will they work to protect their students? How can students protect themselves?

According to some experts, however, here’s the most important question: Is there a real plan that will coordinate all of the elements of different emergency responses?

“Just because one school has better technology than another school doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a safer school,” said Federal Signal’s John VonThaden, Director, Advanced Solutions, Public Safety Systems Division. “A good system involves a full, well-thought-out plan for using it, a process that determines how and when to communicate.”

Also, campuses need a redundancy of solutions, he said, to effectively communicate, “not just an internal e-mail system, because we’ve seen campuses where that’s failed.”

When evaluating a school’s safety, here are some questions VonThaden encourages you to ask:
> Is there an emergency notification system in place?
> Has the school come up with a process to determine when to use it?
> How will school officials decide that an event is important enough to share?
> With whom will they share it?
> What kind of information will they communicate to students so that students can make good decisions?
> Is there going to be more than one method of communication—such as warning sirens, telephone calls, and e-mail notifications?

The best safeguard against disaster is warning, VonThaden adds. “Remember,” he says, “when it comes to safety, most people have a huge capacity to make good decisions. But they need to be given the right information when they need it.”

2009