One moment the professor is lecturing about any given topic and the next moment an alert on a cellphone reads there is an active shooter on campus.
It’s a scenario that students keep in the back of their minds, many on college campuses.
It’s also a situation that became real life for students at Umpqua Community College in Rosebury, Ore., when 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer killed nine people and injured seven more before killing himself last Thursday.
It’s situations like these that the Monroe County higher education institutions prepare for, go over frequently, and have rules to protect their students from.
To start, carrying concealed weapons is not allowed on either campus, according to the spokeswomen.
Northampton Community College has a no carry policy, except with permission granted by the president, which is very rarely granted, spokeswoman Heidi Bulter said. Exceptions to the rule may include cases where there would be law enforcement officers in training on campus.
Students at East Stroudsburg University are not allowed to have firearms, hunting bow and arrows, hunting knives or pellet guns within residence halls, spokeswoman Brenda Friday said. Firearms and bows may be stored with university police, she said.
Both colleges also have in place crisis plans that are reviewed frequently. ESU used its emergency plan during Hurricane Sandy.
“Even though we plan, every situation is different,” Friday said. “There are so many scenarios.”
At NCC, each classroom and public space has an emergency beacon that can activate for one classroom or for the entire campus, Butler said.
The emergency plan at NCC is reviewed after a situation, like Umpqua, happens, Butler said.
“We are always looking to make it better,” she said. “It’s something that’s always on our minds. These incidents happen everywhere, not just on college campuses … it’s something a lot of people think about on a regular basis.”
Butler said the students at NCC were more sad than alarmed after last week's incident. The students at the Monroe Campus are meeting to put together and send their condolences to Umpqua.
On Friday, NCC sent students, faculty and staff reminders of the security procedures that are in place and things they can do to be proactive if they had concerns on campus, Butler said.
On Monday, the FBI was warning schools in Philadelphia about “unspecified” threat of violence and it was being monitored by local and federal law enforcement. While both NCC and ESU officials were aware of the warning, the schools were not part of the threatened area.
ESU does provide training for the campus community and there is information on ESU’s website under emergencies section on what to do if there is an intruder. There is also a general, emergency management team and there are students that are aware of what to do in case of an emergency, Friday said.
Both schools also have text alert systems set up that people can sign up for and social media alerts would be used as well. It’s all in hoping that everyone is prepared in case a situation arises.
“You’re never fully prepared for an emergency,” she said. “You can prepare a lot; you just don’t know where someone will show up.”
Helpful links:
www.esu.edu/emergency/actions
http://www.esu.edu/emergency/safety
http://webapp.northampton.edu/alerts/
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