By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
Would the Eastern Washington University campus be prepared to prevent or handle a major emergency?
It's a question being asked a lot in the wake of Virginia Tech's mass campus shooting on April 16, a tragedy that left 33 people dead, most victims reportedly being students either killed in a dorm or classroom building.
The incident has raised questions about the odds of an emergency of this impact happening at other college campuses and what should be done to prevent them, and EWU officials appear to be taking note.
According to Tim Walters, EWU Police Chief and director of public safety, campus emergencies in all forms are something law enforcement officials are always preparing for; preparation being the worst-case scenario.
“There's always that possibility, so we always prepare for the worst,” Walters said, who in a 2005 campus clery report on crime statistics, described both Eastern and Cheney's living climate as generally safe, although no community is totally risk free.
Eastern has experienced a few non-fatality bomb threats in recent years, including a pipe bomb being discovered in a resident hall in October 2004, and more recently at the recently remodeled computer sciences building. That bomb turned out to be a fake.
But with campus violence outbreaks occurring at higher frequencies across the map, there's a strong push to promote campus safety education and implement new measures of emergency prevention.
Since January, EWU administrators and campus law-enforcement officials have made modifications to enhance the effectiveness of the school's safety systems.
In March, campus law enforcement introduced semunition trainings for its officers conducted at various campus buildings already been pre-mapped and photographed for emergency response purposes.
Walters presented a video documenting semunition exercises conducted at Kingston Hall at the May 11 EWU Board of Trustees meeting to illustrate exactly how a session works.
Semunition trainings are similar to special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team trainings that emphasize rapid deployment and incident command communication where officers respond to active shooter scenarios. Walters said the main goal in introducing semunition training is to get officers used to functioning as a team.
“What we wanted to do was get our team in active situations and see how they respond and would work together in a real situation,” Walters said of the training sessions, to be performed quarterly during school breaks or on weekends.
The department is also working revisions to the campus' emergency response reference manual to make information more readily accessible. Most reference manuals produced in the 1990s aren't designed for the quick-reference use required in an emergency. “What we found was [the manuals] weren't that user friendly,” he said.
Campus law enforcement officials produced a flip-chart book on campus emergency instructions while the manual undergoes revision. Flip books include instructions on how to handle everything from 9-1-1 procedures to biohazards, bomb threats and terrorism. Books were recently delivered around campus and are now available through the department.
“There's a copy on every desk in every building on campus,” Walters said, adding the department is still at work on revisions to the manual, which should be finished by fall.
Walters also said there's a need on campus for an exclusive, mass-internal communications system for staff, faculty and students to use. Currently, the campus is equipped with a community public address (PA) system and 26 EST fire system units Walters said are now being used for other safety communications.
Officials are also looking to set up the E2 Campus text message alert program through the campus Webmaster. The E2 system works by students giving the university their cell numbers to receive emergency text messages. The service is done at no cost to users and is being funded through the university.
In total, the campus is working to fine tune about half a dozen safety features to create what Walter's calls a “blanket system” of emergency protection, response and prevention measures. It's a sufficient start for a foundation.
“I definitely feel more comfortable with our preparedness plan right now than before…but we still have some work to do,” Walters said.
Eastern takes a common sense approach to the safety of its constituents and expects its students and staff to do the same. Although thefts, assaults and other crimes do occur on campus and around the community, EWU's crime rates are significantly lower than other public universities.
“Is Eastern a safe environment? Yes. Can an emergency [like Virginia Tech] happen here? We anticipate that it could; this is an open campus, and Cheney's an open community,” Walters said.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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