On a Monday in late August members of our staff, having read reports on multiple mass-shooting attempts on college campuses, decided to seek the answers on what our university had in place for such a horrific possibility. (See the story here.)
We sat down with administrators, spoke to building staff members and tested the harrowing active-shooter simulations at Temple Police’s Headquarters. This issue, we’re able to present the information to our student body. We’re proud of our reporting, but we have learned through the process that the most important part of this enterprise is to ensure that students are prepared for whatever dangerous incident could unfold on Main Campus.
As a student body, we’re in great hands. But we still need to do our part and be prepared.
We were very impressed with the plans laid out by university administrators, but several of them are all for naught without student preparedness and comprehension. Even members of our own staff weren’t aware of the existence or meaning of emergency notification systems and contingency plans at the start of our reporting. Mass-shootings, terrorist attacks and other dangers have become more prevalent on college campuses. In 2015, there have been 22 shooting incidents on college campuses, including the Oct. 1 incident at Umpqua Community College, which claimed 10 lives and left nine injured.
The fear of these situations reverberated through the University of Chicago yesterday, as they canceled class in response to a threat.
As these incidents become more common, awareness and foresight can be the difference between life and death. We encourage you to take the time to heed the advice of the university’s Director of Emergency Management, Sarah Powell, when she says it’s vital to think ahead for these situations.
Read “Watching for ‘the unthinkable,’” and take note of administrative advice on what a student on Main Campus can do in an active-shooter situation.
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