Campus alerts improved after Va. Tech shootings

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings that rocked the nation, colleges and universities are taking a hard look at their own ability to respond to a campus crisis.
Three days after the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy that claimed 33 lives, University of Rhode Island President Robert L. Carothers convened a meeting of campus leaders.
“He brought together all the personnel that would have a role in supporting efforts for public safety that began with those who are the first contacts when someone learns about someone having difficulty or changes in behavior to all those who would respond to a potentially violent situation,” said Vernon Wyman, vice president of business services at URI.
One thing that came out of that committee was the realization that “our ability to reach every individual with good and accurate current phone numbers was something we didn’t have in place to the extent that we would have liked,” said Wyman.
In response to the committee’s findings, URI implemented EmergencyAlert, an emergency communications system that allows campus leaders to quickly get messages out to students, parents, and faculty through cell phones, text messages, e-mails, and land lines.
Prior to using the MIR3 emergency notification system, the school had a campus-wide voicemail system in place that would call all land lines on the campus in the event of an emergency. But with cell phones now serving as students’ primary means of communication, “we knew we had a gap there,” said Linda Acciardo, director of communications and marketing at URI. “The MIR3 system is a more effective way to send out multiple messages to a variety of devices.”
Johnson & Wales University began looking at emergency-communications vendors even before the Virginia Tech tragedy. The school, located in the heart of Providence with facilities spread throughout the city and beyond, implemented ConnectEd Feb. 14th, a system similar to URI’s, as a precaution for not only the possibility of a shooter, but also because of the threat of a terrorist attack.
The school tested its ConnectEd system with a drill last August that alerted students and faculty to a hypothetical shooter on campus. Although it was just a drill, Miriam Weinstein, manager of communications and media relations at Johnson & Wales, recalls getting the text message and realizing she was standing in front of the building that was designated to have a shooter on its roof. “It was a wake-up call,” she said.
“It’s not a just-in-case scenario anymore, it’s a when,” said Weinstein.
Although Johnson & Wales has long had a crisis-planning team, their plan is a “living document” that is constantly being tweaked, said Maj. Michael Quinn, a recent retiree from the R.I. State Police who is executive director of safety and security at Johnson & Wales.
Quinn believes that running drills is a crucial way to prepare for a campus crisis.
Over the summer, Johnson & Wales participated in Providence’s port evacuation drill, conducted by the Providence Emergency Management Agency and the Providence Fire Department, which simulated a chemical release at the port.
The school also participated in a tabletop drill run by FEMA last May, which called for participants to respond to a hurricane disaster.
The University of Rhode Island, on the other hand, had to use it’s EmergencyAlert in an actual crisis situation on March 3, when security officials were notified of a potential bomb threat after someone reported having overheard a conversation about “an explosive event” that would take place in the next two hours in Independence Hall, said Acciardo.
The threat proved to be unsubstantiated, but the school was able to quickly evacuate the academic building and notify the 2,700 people registered with the MIR3 system through 8,000 messages sent to different devices.
“We still have more progress to make to encourage more people to sign up,” said Acciardo. The school to date has not made registration mandatory but is actively encouraging students and faculty to join. •