Pardon the haphazard nature of my notes. I’m mixing my thoughts with what was expressed without really differentiating (I will try and go back later when I have more time to edit accordingly). It is not in order of questions nor does it flow well but it covers most of what was discussed or asked.
The forum was run by Mr. John Bennett, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration. VCU, like every other university in the nation, is evaluating its procedures and seeing what they can do in response to a tragedy like this. VCU has the largest police force for any university in the state raw numbers wise (though whether that holds up proportionately Mr. Bennett could not say).
One issue they are addressing is the best way to instantly communicate with the community.
They plan on creating a cell phone text messaging system that students and parents can opt into that will alert them to emergencies. The problem with this is that not everyone has cell phones or text (though no one system will ever reach everyone) and that in the case of large emergencies cell phones are useless. Reports from Blacksburg on Monday and first hand experience on September 11th says that phones, cell and landline, can only handle but so much traffic. The same applies to the internet, as websites usually aren’t prepared for the glut of traffic an emergency would create.
There’s the possibility of a siren to alert people that they need to find a spot for more information, though the flaw with that is that this is a very large campus and if the siren is to run away from, say, the library and that’s where folks will go for info, well, it’s a little ineffective.
More televisions on campus to spread information was another option and a good one, though where to place them given the size of the campus and layout of the buildings is an odd thing to figure out.
I asked whether a question concerning VCU’s cooperation with Richmond authorities and whether or not they had a plan to use more mainstream means of spreading a information through radio and television. After discussing their working with Richmond, Mr. Bennett said that while they do have relationships with local media outlets in place that it was not one of their priority means of contacting the public. My thoughts, especially given the unreliability of cell phones and the internet in the face of large scale emergencies, is that radio and television should be very much in any consideration for the spreading of information. On September 11th the only way to get information in DC was radio or TV. Ideally we will never face something on that level, but to ignore traditional, more reliable means could be very dangerous.
The further question is what to actually tell people, and that’s something that would have to be addressed on a case by case basis.
That and how to respond varies based on the emergency at hand. What do emergency responders do? What do they ask the student body to do? Stay? Run?
This seemed to be something a lot of folks either didn’t understand or agree with as questions were asked about “locking down” the campus. Mr. Bennett took issue with the term as a prison term, but he understood the sentiment. But what he stressed, and I agree with, is that locking down the campus is not the best response in every situation.
Personally, I don’t think locking down the campus would have been a proper response in Tech’s situation and is one that, as Mr. Bennett said, may not ever been a proper response for VCU. At what point to you lock it down? For what emergencies? If someone is shot on campus, do you lock it down (especially considering VCU is an urban campus and some crimes have nothing to do with the university)? If a chemical agent is discovered, do you lock it down? If a tornado is approaching, do you lock it down?
One attendee brought up the need to inform students of emergency exits available to them in given buildings or rooms, something that is not well known. Many a room has a door that goes to who knows where and would not help should an emergency break out.
A few asked about manual locks on the door to allow easy barricading but what no one seemed to understand is that that while the lock can keep the bad guy out it can also keep the good guys out and the bad guy in.
A couple questions were asked about self defense or advising students on what to do in the face of a threat such as the one posed at VT. Mr. Bennett’s response was that self defense courses are currently offered through the campus police and if a greater demand existed for them then they’d look into offering more. As to advising students on what to do, they are evaluating what to tell students and faculty but it’s a touchy situation given any number of situations that could occur and how one would need to respond to each.
Many people were concerned about the lack of facilities and options to students in need of help psychologically as well as if they felt threatened. This is a major issue to some VCU students given the upcoming closing of the Student Resource Center, especially in the face of the killer’s past and the threat such a situation poses. Officials seemed to skirt around the issue of the Resource Center, noting that they’d addressed it in the past, but after a comment from one student that Student Counciling had a waiting list of seventy students two weeks ago, many in the room seemed to feel that more needed to be done.
Overall the forum seemed productive in light of the Tech tragedy and continued participation in future meetings would be nice to see. I’m going to do what I can to get WVCW involved more closely with the University Safety Committee as radio is a very vital outlet to serving and informing the community (and one we could better serve should we have an AM tower).
Mr. Bennett opened the forum asking a series of questions, one of which was who in the room now felt less secure. Almost all of the room raised their hands. It’s unfortunate that it takes a tragedy like the one at Virginia Tech to get people to take notice and involved. Hopefully it can lead to better things for all.
