In the wake of the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University and Louisiana Technical College, institutes of higher education across the nation are focusing on ways to protect their campuses.
According to Larry Keen, assistant to the president of Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe Community College, in Gainesville, Fla., is one of those institutions. Events such as last April's shootings at Virginia Tech have put Santa Fe on higher alert, especially regarding its emergency preparation planning.
"It made a huge difference," Keen said. "If we had not been prepared for this, there would have been well-intentioned efforts, but disorganized [ones]."
At Santa Fe, however, preparing for emergency situations was not the school's only concern last Tuesday; just before noon, a Santa Fe student brandished a gun in the food court and threatened a fellow student with it, Keen said.
"We didn't know exactly what had happened," Keen said. "The gun was not used, it wasn't pointed, but it was revealed and comments were made in a threatening manner in reference to the gun."
Though no one was injured in this incident, Keen maintained that Santa Fe still has areas in which it can improve its emergency response methods, such as notification of students.
"That is the area in which we can improve the most -- in communicating with our students," Keen said. "We did a good job in communicating with ourselves ... We did not do as good a job communicating with our students directly, such as through texting."
Keen hopes to improve communication through low-tech measures such as installing an outdoor public announcement and siren system, similar to the one at Virginia Tech.
"What we're beginning to see is that low tech can be more reliable," Keen said.
According to Marjorie Sidebottom, University director of emergency preparedness, the University may install a siren system as well, though the University's land area is making proposed installation trickier to plan.
"We are actually engaged in a discussion regarding a siren system and have been for a number of months," Sidebottom said. "We're a little bit different from some other [universities] because of our topography here."
Currently, Sidebottom and her colleagues are working to find both a company and an installation method that will best suit the University's emergency service plans.
"We want to make sure that we get [a system that] is going to work for us," Sidebottom said.
Another way University community members are equipping themselves for emergency situations is through Hoos Ready, a student-run organization primarily geared toward informing students of emergency situations on Grounds.
"Hoos Ready is just really remarkable, and that's going to be [one of] the best way[s] we can ensure [safety] and general awareness ... knowing what's going on around you and how you need to respond," Sidebottom said, adding that both students and faculty are signing up for Hoos Ready, even though it was initially targeted only at students.
College shooting incidents have not only alerted higher education institutions, but have also pushed legislators and community leaders into action.
Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, and colleagues are working to make House Bill 499, a comprehensive mental health bill recommended by the Virginia Tech Review Panel, into law. Hamilton's main goals as chief patron of HB 499 are to improve the accountability of the community when it comes to mental health and to make sure that mental health patients comply with doctors and judges, Hamilton said.
According to Hamilton, the bill allows for more cases to result in mental health aid by including a wider scope in the definition of the "substantial likelihood" that they will commit harm against the larger community.
"This applies to everyone," Hamilton said. "There's not anything [in the bill] that is just for colleges ... but clearly colleges will be impacted by [the] changes."
Hamilton added that he wants to make patients' mental health information more accessible to professionals when pertinent to an issue at hand.
Concerned specifically with Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui, Hamilton said "the judge hearing the situation with Cho didn't know [about] some of the things from his past."
Hamilton said he hopes the proposed legislation will help to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
"Hopefully the legislation will start filling in those gaps ... and make it harder for those types of situations to fall through the cracks," Hamilton said.
At Santa Fe, Keen said while these people and situations can perhaps go unnoticed, their effects cannot, especially in the college community.
"As our president said just this morning, this young man [who brandished a gun at Sante Fe] violated a sacred trust of higher education ... no place should [have to endure this] but above all, higher education," Keen said.
Read More
From the Archives: Celebration and Reflection (4/28 - 5/4)
By Clara Franklin and Annabelle Nee | 10 hours agoFrom The Purple Shadows breaking into the Dean of Students’s office to multiple student athletes accused of honor code violations, the graduating class’s four years were a wild ride.
PBS NewsHour correspondent speaks on bringing humanity to international conflict
By Grace Little | YesterdaySchifrin's work exploring Putin’s Russia, his coverage of COVID-19 and his reporting in Afghanistan and Ukraine have earned him various accolades.
Spring meal swipe drive aims to tackle food insecurity at the University
By Nicolas Biernacki | YesterdayU.Va. Dine facilitated the drive by converting each meal swipe donated by a student into one pound of food that is then donated to the CFP.
