2008 Woodie Awards
Committee says CMU ready for emergencies
By: Beth Kieda
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
CMU's Core Crisis Committee said the university is prepared for an emergency but can never guarantee anyone's safety.
The committee, which includes Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, CMU Police Chief Stan Dinius, Associate Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services David Burdette and Director of Media Relations Steve Smith, has met several times since Thursday's shooting at Northern Illinois University.
"What I would say is we do have a plan," Roscoe said at Tuesday's Academic Senate meeting. "We are prepared. The police have gone through a lot of training - they are very familiar with the campus and have a wonderful working relationship with other police agencies in the community."
One component of preparation is the ability of law enforcement to respond to the situation.
"We have 21 police officers on our campus and we do train for active shooter response," Dinius said. "We have trained as recently as December."
The department has trained for incidents such as barricaded gunmen, hostage situations and the use of incident command systems during crises.
In addition to CMU Police, the campus also could receive help from Isabella County Sheriff's Department, Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police and a branch of the Michigan State Police.
"We have a lot of police in our county for a rural county," Roscoe said. "The response is quick."
Another issue is possible strategies and methods to communicate an emergency situation to the university community.
"We have a variety of communication strategies in place, but they will never be sufficient," Roscoe said.
"We will never be able to notify every person as quickly as he or she would like to be notified."
In emergencies, officials post notices on the CMU Web site. An e-mail also is sent to all students, faculty and staff, including off-campus community members.
There also is a telephone tree notification system for administrators through the county City Watch System.
The 300 mediated classrooms on campus have a phone, which has a message box to allow communication with campus police. However, the phones cannot directly call 911 - they connect to the media center.
Burdette encouraged faculty and staff to sign up with their cell and home phone numbers so they can be contacted in the most efficient way during an emergency.
After spring break, there will be an opportunity for the university community to sign up with their phone numbers to receive emergency messages.
"Communication is a two-way street," Burdette said. "We need your help."
news@cm-life.com
The committee, which includes Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, CMU Police Chief Stan Dinius, Associate Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services David Burdette and Director of Media Relations Steve Smith, has met several times since Thursday's shooting at Northern Illinois University.
"What I would say is we do have a plan," Roscoe said at Tuesday's Academic Senate meeting. "We are prepared. The police have gone through a lot of training - they are very familiar with the campus and have a wonderful working relationship with other police agencies in the community."
One component of preparation is the ability of law enforcement to respond to the situation.
"We have 21 police officers on our campus and we do train for active shooter response," Dinius said. "We have trained as recently as December."
The department has trained for incidents such as barricaded gunmen, hostage situations and the use of incident command systems during crises.
In addition to CMU Police, the campus also could receive help from Isabella County Sheriff's Department, Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police and a branch of the Michigan State Police.
"We have a lot of police in our county for a rural county," Roscoe said. "The response is quick."
Another issue is possible strategies and methods to communicate an emergency situation to the university community.
"We have a variety of communication strategies in place, but they will never be sufficient," Roscoe said.
"We will never be able to notify every person as quickly as he or she would like to be notified."
In emergencies, officials post notices on the CMU Web site. An e-mail also is sent to all students, faculty and staff, including off-campus community members.
There also is a telephone tree notification system for administrators through the county City Watch System.
The 300 mediated classrooms on campus have a phone, which has a message box to allow communication with campus police. However, the phones cannot directly call 911 - they connect to the media center.
Burdette encouraged faculty and staff to sign up with their cell and home phone numbers so they can be contacted in the most efficient way during an emergency.
After spring break, there will be an opportunity for the university community to sign up with their phone numbers to receive emergency messages.
"Communication is a two-way street," Burdette said. "We need your help."
news@cm-life.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Phil Hornshaw
posted 2/20/08 @ 7:11 PM EST
Okay, I know how annoying it is to you guys when former Lifers comment on the Web site. So I'll keep it to a minimum. I will say I'd like to see CM Life go above and beyond and send someone down to this MAC school to get the story first-hand, instead of running AP and recycling whatever Steve Lawrence and the administration tell the paper about preparedness. (Continued…)
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