April 16 Sparks Security Overhaul in Blacksburg

(UWIRE) This story was written by Caleb Fleming, Collegiate Times
Photo by Broadside

Called to action by the events last April, Virginia Tech has revamped its methods for preventing catastrophe and coping with emergencies that could occur.

• RELATED ARTICLE: Making Campus Safe, Broadside looks at GMU security after the Virginia Tech shootings

While many university students will recognize specific changes, such as the around-the-clock locking of dorms and the VT Alert system, numerous other changes have been implemented that have likely gone unnoticed.

Though officials had expressed an increased interest in buffing up campus security after to April 16, strategies have since been officially employed at the university.

On May 9, 2007, President Charles Steger organized three internal reviews on the Tech campus. The groups, including the Security Infrastructure Group, Information and Communications Infrastructure Group and Interface Group, each focus on a different aspect relating to the goal of strengthening safety and security on the Tech campus.

While the university agreed to make an attempt at every security recommendation offered by the three groups, Mark Owczarski, university spokesman, cited the prioritization of cost as the most prominent reason why some action will be taken sooner rather than later. Owczarski said a statewide budget cut has hurt the institution.

"We had to reduce our budget for this year at the governor's request, a quarter of the way through the budget year," Owczarski said. "Imagine planning to spend $100 over the course of one year, and then once you start to spend it, someone tells you that you only had $90 to start with."

The most noticeable changes for the student body were made by the Security Infrastructure Group, which looked into the current security systems in place around campus and came up with recommendations for improvement, as well as methods for preventing emergency situations from occurring. They also looked into the university's ability to communicate among its offices in the event of an emergency.

The group's recommendations include installing locks on classroom doors, installing centrally monitored video cameras, implementing the VT Alerts system, altering the hardware on academic building entrances, placing message boards in high profile areas and a better emergency preparedness plan, among other things.

Instead of the e-mail alert system of years past, students now receive message alerts on many other communication facets, reaching beyond their inbox. In the event of an emergency on the Tech campus, students, faculty and staff members will receive updates on the situation along with guidelines for the proper action to be taken.

Students, faculty and staff members can choose to have these alerts sent via text message, instant message, to non-Tech e-mail addresses and phone calls to home, office or mobile numbers. The service does not charge a fee for subscribers.

VT Alerts, the university's official alert system, went into effect on August 20, 2007, the first day of the fall semester. In the event of a crisis, the system will run through each user's chain of contact points, sending alert messages until the subscriber confirms that they received the message.

For example, if a text alert is sent out, the student must respond with "yes" before the university can confirm receipt. If no confirmation is received by VT Alerts, will send a message to the next contact point provided.

Since the implementation of the alert system three tests have been conducted. The first alert saw roughly 1,000 users not receive any notification, while the second alert test was significantly more successful, as only 300 users reported not receiving any information whatsoever.

In addition to the VT alerts program, the university has also changed its policies regarding residence hall access. Though halls were previously only locked from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., students must now use their Hokie Passports to gain entry 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a door is propped open or held open too long, an alarm will sound to alert police.

Leon McClinton, Tech's director of residence life, said that the effects of this measure will solely be positive, regardless of the ways students can bypass it. Though McClinton did not start his position with residence life until July 25, 2007, he has found the policies to be useful.

"I support it," McClinton said. "It's a good measure, and I think that only residents should be granted access to a particular hall."

As for tailgating, the act of holding the door open for someone who may or may not belong in a specific building, McClinton said residence life does not have any measures in place to prevent this, but rather just expectations of its residents. He added that he does not view the problem as severe, and there are no official statistics on the matter.

"We do not staff personnel to monitor that," McClinton said. "We just expect our residents to not allow it. If it is observed by a staff member, they can report it, but we do not place people at the entrances to check."

Though students may not immediately be aware of the placement of locks on classroom doors, Mark Owczarski, university relations, noted that all security changes are important.

Owczarski noted that with every security change there is still the possibility for problems to occur. Specifically, there is a downside to having classrooms with locks on the inside.

"One of the recommendations was about putting locks on classrooms, so if someone was in the hallway you could lock yourself in," Owczarski said. "But then you ask, what if the shooter is in the classroom?"

While every change has positive and negative aspects, Owczarski said that all of the changes recommended by the Security Infrastructure Group are a step in the right direction.

Additionally, the Security Infrastructure Group outlined a hierarchy for the Policy Group to follow in the event that certain members are unable to attend a meeting. The role of the absent members is ceded to the next highest ranking individual present. They also established a plan to inform the members who are not present of what has happened in their meeting.

The Policy Group is an assembly composed of vice presidents, vice provosts, and others who, along with the president, make critical policy decisions in times of urgent need.

Sherwood Wilson, a member of the policy group and the vice president for administrative affairs, said that the Policy Group met most recently in late February when an unidentified gunman was seen walking into a residence hall at Ferrum College, just 30 miles from Tech.

"When the Ferrum college incident occurred, we brought the Policy Group together as a precaution so we understood the situation and what action, if any, Virginia Tech needed to take," Wilson said. "The result was the e-mail that went out notifying the campus."

In a restructuring effort taken immediately following the shooting, the Tech police department was instructed to report directly to Wilson. According to Wilson, this change has had a positive effect on the communication flow at the university.

"Prior to this, the police chief reported two levels below the president, so in an emergency or potential emergency situation, in order to get information to the president, it structurally had to pass through two different offices, which can create confusion, or at the least slow information flow," Wilson said. "By having the police report one level away from the president, it shortens the communication flow and reduces the potential hurdles. It puts the police chief much closer to what's happening."

Wilson, who joined Tech in July 2007 from the University of Wisconsin, receives police reports and information from the police department, which he in turn relays to the president. Wilson said that anything of any significance whatsoever will be noted on these reports.

"For example, traffic summons and petty larceny, they don't submit to me," Wilson said. "In situations that are critical, that involve either safety or security of a campus, they notify me directly and I will pass that on to the president and the rest of the executive officers."

An additional change in this field is the placement of the police chief as a permanent member of the policy group.

"By making him a permanent member of the policy group, it puts him at the table when decisions are made so they can provide impact or feedback," Wilson said.

In June, Tech appointed John Beach of Salem, Va. as interim director of emergency management. Wilson, however, added that pending a current search, Beach could possibly become the permanent director.

Beach's job tasks him with overlooking all emergency operations and training for the university, as well as direct planning and development of emergency response activities.

Owczarski said campus security is an ongoing, methodical process; one that requires diligence and care. Though one of the hardest parts is finding out what needs to be done, a challenge that is equally concerning is what should be done first. Most importantly, Owczarski noted that promoting campus security is not a onetime event.

"The evaluation and effectiveness will never, ever end," Owczarski said. "You can setup 50 million blue light phones across the campus, but another one would still be better. You never rest in a town and say, OK, we don't need police anymore, and we don't need an army anymore."