By Alex Kurt

 

The shooting deaths of 33 students at Virginia Tech last week have triggered concerns about security on campuses nationwide.

 

“We’re looking at our whole policy,” CSB Campus Security Director Jim Schumann said. “We’re looking at the same issues that other schools are looking at right now.”

 

At the forefront of the discussion is a system to notify students of an emergency.

 

“We’re looking at some type of notification system for all occasions, even classes being cancelled or severe weather,” Schumann said. “I’ve met with IT and our telecommunications director to see what’s available.”

 

St. John’s Dean of Students Michael Connolly introduced a proposal to keep all students’ cell phone numbers in a database to the St. John’s Senate Monday.

 

“We would purchase a program that could automatically send a text message to all students,” he said.

 

Connolly also brought up the possibility of campus wide Facebook groups that could send users a message during an emergency.

 

“We’re asking, what is the best way to get in contact with as many constituents as possible?” he said.

 

Reaction from senators was mixed.

 

St. John’s Senate President Kevin May suggested a campus public address system, locks on classroom doors and emergency procedure training for Residence Assistants.

 

“If we have the technology, why not use it?” May said.

 

Campus Policy and Procedures Representative James Murn expressed concern over the frequency with which the notification system might be used.

 

“It could become like e-mail, where students don’t even want to listen to it,” he said.

 

Changes in progress

 

Campus leaders met to discuss emergency policy Thursday.

 

“The [emergency] plans have three basic components: preparation, response and recovery,” vice president of Enrollment, Planning and Public Affairs Jon McGee said. “We routinely review and update those plans.”

 

McGee said that more meetings are planned.

 

“We plan to meet several times in the coming weeks to develop recommendations for the presidents this summer,” McGee said.

 

“We are reviewing building access and security plans and procedures, student and employee notification in the event of an emergency and safety preparation procedures. If we determine that changes to our current plans are required, we will begin to implement those changes as soon as possible.”

 

Two campuses, two policies

 

Schumann said that the only emergency procedure on which CSB and SJU have a joint plan is the procedure following the outbreak of a pandemic.

 

“Each college has an emergency plan and each college has an emergency management team,” he said. “We don’t think that something happening at one school would necessarily affect the other school.”

 

Yet Schumann is confident in the current plans.

 

“I am pretty sure that we’ll be able to deal effectively with whatever emergency we’ll have to deal with.”

 

McGee says the colleges are doing everything they can to create a safe campus environment.

 

“I think it’s important to note that emergency planning never ends,” he said. “We learn from events here and elsewhere.”

Filed under: Administration, News by Alex Kurt