Katrina Gonzales
Shootings at universities continue, emergency plans still unclear to students.
Recent shootings at universities leave college students, faculty and staff confused about
university emergency plans in the case of an active shooter and where exactly to find
these plans.
The Associated Press looked into universities’ emergency plans for active shooters
following the Oct. 1 shooting an Oregon community college that left nine people dead.
The AP found that some colleges have training videos for students going through
orientation and others have the instructions online. The AP goes on to mention that this is
a main concern specifically at two-year community colleges due to their lack of on
campus police forces.
On Oct. 14 Lubbock County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at the Reese Center of South
Plains College because of a report claiming a man on campus had a weapon. Although
the man was escorted out of the college and did not harm anyone, freshman at South
Plains College, Pedro Figueroa says he is upset with SPC’s communication with their
students.
“I found out through my job first,” Figueroa said. “If something would of happened I
would like to be notified through the school and not my job.”
Figueroa said if there was a gunman on campus he would run and try his best to hide, but
he does not know SPC’s emergency plan for an active shooter.
The AP found that some universities have hired armed officers that train and have drills
for this type of emergency. The AP reports that many universities have some type of alert
systems that sends text messages and uses other types of technology to communicate with
students and staff.
Texas Tech University has incorporated an alert system called “Tech A!ert.” By signing
up for this system students, faculty and staff can receive important alerts directly from the
university pertaining to weather and other types of emergencies. Students and staff
signing up go through a registration process that asks for a name, phone number and
classification at the university.
Abbi Trammel, Sophomore at TTU says she signed up for “Tech A!erts” at orientation
because it could send messages to something she always has at hand.
“There was sign-up sheet for Tech A!erts at orientation,” Trammel said. “I wanted to be
able to know what was going on without having to pull out my laptop and check my
email…I’m always on my phone and having alerts sent to my phone is quick and easy.”
The AP found that many universities have adopted the city of Houston’s 2012 “Run,
Hide, Fight” defense technique. The City of Houston teamed up with Homeland Security
to create a video for what to do if someone were to encounter an active shooter. The
video can be found in English and Spanish on the FBI’s website as well as the City of
Houston’s.
Since the AP’s report there have been two more shootings at universities, one at Arizona
University and the other at Texas Southern University.
TTU’s emergency plan can be found on the Department of Agricultural Education &
Communications website.
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