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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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October/November
2007
Volume 13 - Number
1/2 |
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Disaster
in a University Setting
By Mike Molnia On April 16th, 2007, the worst school shooting in
U.S. history took place in Blacksburg, VA on the Virginia Tech campus.
32 students and faculty members lost their lives in two separate attacks
by a mentally unsound gunman. The shooting placed colleges across the
country on high alert and exposed just how vulnerable their campuses were.
The gunman began his first attack around 7:00am when he shot and killed two students in a dorm room. When the crime scene was discovered, the decision was made that the killings were related to a domestic dispute and the University did not inform the student population about the incident. It wasn't until almost two hours later that the University sent an email to students about what had occurred earlier that morning. Unfortunately, it was also around this time that the gunman began his second attack, this time locking the doors to a building and moving from one classroom to another shooting every student he came across. The gunman would take his own life at the end of this second attack, leaving the total number of dead at 33 and the total number wounded at 17. In the months following the shooting, a state panel reviewed the actions of the Virginia Tech administration on that fateful morning. The panel made more than 70 preventative recommendations for colleges and universities to follow. Many of the criticisms leveled at Virginia Tech were based on their decision to allow the campus to operate normally following the initial attack and for not getting information out about the situation to enough people in a timely fashion. What followed at colleges and universities across the country was a mad summer rush to create or test their emergency communications abilities. The testing focused on two parts of emergency communication. The first being what mediums should be used to inform students, and the second being what criteria are necessary for cancelling classes and shutting down a campus. Prior to this incident, many schools had used more passive means of communication such as websites, automated voice mails to university phones, mass emails to listserves and emergency information hot lines. The problem with these passive methods is that they required the user to seek out the source for information, which is not effective when people are away from their computer or don't know to make a phone call to get information. At this point in time, most campuses have purchased mass messaging systems that are capable of text messaging, calling cell and landlines, instant messaging, faxing and other modes of communication. The idea being that this aggressive method of communicating will reach more people in their pockets. Other methods of notification include siren and PA systems, broadcasts on radio or television stations, satellite mobile systems that provide a local wifi connection, or computer pop up alerts that run in the background and scroll emergency information when necessary. While most colleges and universities are now better prepared technologically to handle the flow of emergency information, the question that remains is whether they are capable of making the decisions necessary in the future to prevent another shooting like at Virginia Tech. Recent shootings at Delaware State and the University of Wisconsin Madison suggest that college administrators have learned a lesson from Virginia Tech. But has the reality that preparedness requires more than just a text message or a voicemail been learned? Emergency management is a profession that is very good at preparing for the last disaster. How long will it be before the answer to whether or not to close campus, is no longer an automatic yes? |