COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE/mctCabrini’s public safety department is working closely with the Safety Committee to update the College’s Emergency Response Plan. This action follows the recent violence on college campuses across the nation.
“This plan and other plans deal with all types of emergencies that may occur on our property,” Lillian Burroughs, director of public safety, said.
A shooting occurred at Delaware State University on Sept. 21, wounding two students and leaving the remaining students on the campus in a state of lockdown.
Three days prior to the shooting, a carjacking occurred at the University of Maryland at College Park in which a student and his girlfriend were held at gunpoint.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a recent study revealed that many colleges are focusing more than ever on preparing for a crisis since the Virginia Tech Massacre, although they may not be well equipped to handle one.
Over the summer, colleges and universities around the country revised campus violence policies, started additional mental health training, installed and activated new alert systems and even ordered long-range rifles, according to the NY Times.
According to Burroughs, Cabrini is more prepared than they were before the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.
“The major reason is awareness,” Burroughs said. “This awareness includes more campus departments communicating better.”
Cabrini currently has a mass email system and a mass phone system. According to Burroughs, a text message alert system will soon be implemented into the system as well.
An increased number of public safety officers also patrol the campus in order to keep an eye on any potential problems.
“Currently, we have a full complement of Public Safety Officers, which means we have more on campus than previous years,” Burroughs said.
Burroughs is confident that the college is prepared to handle any emergency on campus and the college has looked at many different vendors that deal with emergency notification systems.
“Though any incident on a college campus, such as a shooting, is tragic the answer is yes, it is discussed how it would be handled,” Burroughs said.
“Our goal is to educate you, the student.”
