SHANNON URTNOWSKI
News Editor
Though the tragedy of the violent shootings at Virginia Tech lives on in the memory of many, it has been almost a year since the incident, and campus shootings nationwide had appeared to be on a decline — until this month, that is.
Five campus shootings have occurred in February, spanning from institutions like Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, La., to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill, on Feb. 14.
Since the Virgina Tech incident in April of 2007, Pepperdine instituted a number of improvements to emergency preparedness on campus, and the most recent shootings have only caused the university to continue these efforts and consider updates.
“We’ve reviewed our plans and we’ve inserted some extra steps,” said Lauren Cosentino, a vice chair for the Emergency Operations Committee (EOC).
President Andrew K. Benton noted the importance of these efforts.
“When we hear of issues at other schools, we examine our own planning and make necessary adjustments,” Benton wrote in an e-mail. “Since Virginia Tech, all in higher education have been challenged to review the adequacy of policies and procedures.”
The EOC, which is made up of 15 members and serves to respond to campus emergencies, met with the Seaver Cabinet on Feb. 11 to discuss new emergency preparedness efforts at Pepperdine. The EOC is working to organize a number of meetings with different divisions of the Pepperdine community, such as with faculty of the graduate campuses.
At the Seaver Cabinet meeting, a few recent and upcoming projects were discussed, such as the possibility of a campus-wide lockdown drill.
“We’re trying to figure out how to do that — the logistics of that,” Cosentino said. “We will most likely run it like a fire drill, from building to building. We have no logistics nailed down yet, but it’s coming.”
In the event of an actual lockdown, or any other emergency involving the Pepperdine community, the university will use its 3N system to inform the public. To take advantage of the 3N system, which was installed after the Virginia Tech shooting, students and faculty are asked to input their contact information into a university database online. With this information, Pepperdine will contact individuals via phone calls and text messages as soon as emergencies occur.
“Students should take advantage of the fact that the university wants to communicate with you during these events,” said Robert Chandler, chair of the Communication Division, who specializes in emergency communication. “They don’t want to bother you, but they want you to know they’re taking this seriously.”
About 40 percent of the Pepperdine community has signed up with 3N, according to Cosentino. Though she said larger schools with similar systems have only been able to motivate less than 15 percent of their students and faculty to sign up, she feels many more people should take advantage of 3N, as to ensure their own safety.
“After an incident like Virginia Tech or Columbine, there are copy cat incidents,” Cosentino said. “These kinds of things have changed the world — we can’t just ignore them.”
In addition to the upcoming lockdown drill, Pepperdine has also moved to change all the locks throughout campus.
“That is happening for a variety of reasons,” Cosentino said. “One, for security, as the intellikey locks are better than the brass key locking, because it’s a smart key and it has a memory.”
Consentino also noted security and theft as reasons for the locks being changed. In addition, classrooms without locks will have the intellikeys installed. Though efforts to change the locks began before this month, this did not actually begin being implemented until a few weeks ago, according to Cosentino.
Pepperdine is not the first university to address the importance of emergency preparedness, such as with the implementation of a campus-wide alert system. Cal State Northridge, for example, has a similar emergency notification system that was implemented more than a year ago. However, dean of Seaver College David Baird said Pepperdine’s emergency preparedness stands out from other schools.
“Unlike a lot of similar groups, our EOC has been tried by many fires — literally — after each of which it meets to fine tune its procedures,” Baird wrote in an e-mail. “I have been and remain impressed by the way the university prepares and responds to emergencies. “
Chandler said the efforts of the EOC are increasing safety at Pepperdine step by step, but he said he hopes this will continue, as complacency could spoil the great bounds that have been met thus far.
“I think we’re making progress,” Chandler said. “I think you want to always continue to review and upgrade and get better, however.”
For now, Cosentino said Pepperdine’s emergency preparedness is at a good place.
“We have one of the best plans of all the schools in the United States,” Cosentino said.
“We’re given this responsibility — we need to do our due diligence and our homework to make sure people are safe and that the community is aware of what they’re going to do.”
To review Pepperdine’s regularly updated emergency Web site, please visit emergency.pepperdine.edu.
02-21-2008
