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University of Kansas administrators had little reaction to the Northern Illinois shooting
that killed six and injured 15 last week. Don Steeples, vice provost for scholarly support, said that the University’s warning system put in place after the Virginia Tech shooting is sufficient for the University at this time. Those systems, however, are still in the implementation process and the University still does not have a way to control panicking students trying to get off campus.
Steeples said that a complete campus lockdown would be out of the question because it was not feasible to simultaneously lock the doors in 150 campus buildings.
He also said that a faculty training program
on how to handle large groups of panicking
students is probably not something the University will look into. He added that he didn’t think the training would be worth the effort.
Steeples said the chance that Kansas will be the next target of a school shooting is incredibly small. He said that of the thousand
state universities in the United States, only three major shootings have happened at state universities in the last year.
“Putting on my professor hat, I would say the threat has such a low statistical probability that I am willing to live with it,” Steeples said. “Putting on my admin hat, I would say that the chances of this happening
at my campus in a year are 1 in 1000.”
According to KU Public Safety statistics, only three weapon violations were reported between 2004 and 2007. This information is from the same report that said only 13 liquor law violations occurred on campus during the same three year period.
“Are we prepared to handle a shooting as well as Northern Illinois? I think so,” Steeples said. “Do I think we could handle it better than Virginia Tech? I think we can, and I certainly hope so.”
Steeples said that from what he understood,
Northern Illinois had police in the building within two minutes of the incident.
He said that whether the University of Kansas would be as efficient would depend on the location of the patrolmen during the incident and the level of pedestrian traffic at the time.
Ryan Lierz, Seneca junior, said he felt safe on the KU campus.
“Maybe it is because I am naive and I don’t think it will ever happen here,” Lierz said. “Well, I hope and pray it won’t happen.”
Lierz said he can see how the University’s text-message system could cause widespread panic that could lead to other problems.
“It is hard to say what I would do without actually being in the situation,” Lierz said. “I think I would want to know where the shooter was.”
University officials reacted to last week’s shooting at Northern Illinois University via a news release. In it, administrators expressed condolences for the victims and counseling options for KU students. Steeples said they were not doing anything new to ensure students
that the University would be secure in the event of a gun threat.
Steeples said the three security systems set up after the Virginia Tech shooting were emergency e-mails, messages through fire alarm speakers and an opt-in emergency text message program. He said they are all still being set up, but provide a strategy in unpredictable high-threat situations.
The KU Public Safety Office determines
how the systems are used according
to Steeples.
Steeples said the fire alarm system was highly effective because it allowed the police to speak to students directly in order to control their reactions. This technology allows police officers to use the fire siren speakers to give voice commands about the emergency. The fire alarm system is available
in more than 40 of the 150 buildings on campus. He said all buildings with more than several dozen student capacities have these alarm systems in them. According to Steeples, they are considering adding more alarms based on the installation feasibility.
Steeples added that two loudspeakers were installed on Jayhawk Boulevard to warn students as well.
The text message system, which was implemented at several other universities,
including Florida and Purdue, is still in the process of development. In January, Florida sent out 35,727 messages in less than 30 minutes, according to Florida University Relations.
Steeples said the University tested their text system once already and it worked fine. He said that the system could send about 10,000 texts in around 30 minutes, but the message has to go through a chain of command.
The Public Safety Office would talk to the provosts who would then arrange a conference
call with the police and University Relations. When they decide what message to send, University Relations calls the Information Technology department to request the alert. Steeples said this all happens within a matter of minutes.
Steeples said that in the case of an extreme emergency, Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, senior vice provost for academic affairs, had the ability to skip the conference call and order the alert herself.
Lierz said that he would like to get the text if something major happened, but he didn’t sign up for it when it was advertised because he didn’t want to receive weather alerts and other warnings the University might use the system for.
Steeples said that the University is still developing a policy on when to use the texts to inform students about school closings.
He said that’s why inquiring students did not get a message two weeks ago when the University had a snow day because of dangerous road conditions.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
