Comprehensive Programs Needed to Keep College Campuses Safe, Witnesses Tell House Education and Labor Committee 
Enhanced Communications Systems, Mental Health Services, and Violence Prevention Strategies All Key to Campus Safety, Experts Say

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- Comprehensive policies and adequate funding for safety, threat assessment, and violence prevention programs are all needed to keep America’s college campuses safe, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee at a hearing today.

Witnesses discussed best practices for campus emergency response and safety plans and made policy recommendations to lawmakers, including the need for access to new technologies and communications alert systems, for readily available mental health and counseling support services, for threat assessment strategies to detect and prevent violence, and for collaborative efforts among campus safety agencies, administrators, and faculty to address safety issues and maintain positive campus environments.

"In the wake of the horrific and senseless violence at Virginia Tech, we must do everything we can to ensure that our nation's college campuses are safe learning environments for students, faculty, and staff members," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee. "Today's hearing provided us with a critical opportunity to learn about how the Congress can help colleges and universities to prevent and recover from tragedies and emergencies. Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our children, our students, and our loved ones."

"In light of the recent incidents at Virginia colleges and universities, we need to explore every possible avenue toward determining what can be done to prevent these events in the future," said Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA). "Today's hearing was a necessary first step in the right direction toward preventing future incidents as well as dealing with crises after they have occurred."

Stephen J. Healy, the Director of Public Safety at Princeton University, and the President of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), highlighted efforts by campus safety officers to enhance communications and emergency alert systems, and stressed the need for a National Center for Campus Public Safety. "We need to ensure that all colleges and universities are committed to and have access to high quality information, best practices, and training ... the National Center would support research, information sharing, best and model practices, and strategies planning to enhance campus public safety." Healy also said that adequate funding resources were vital in order for campus safety agencies to provide officers with the best possible training and to work in partnership with federal agencies.

Threat assessment procedures that include coordination with mental health and law enforcement teams should be a part of every school’s campus safety plan, said Dr. Dewey Cornell, the Director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project at the University of Virginia, which has developed and tested threat assessment programs for K-12 schools. "It is critically important that our efforts concentrate on prevention strategies. Every threat signals an underlying problem that should be addressed before it escalates into violence. Our research supports the use of threat assessment in schools, but we need more research and training to make it a standard practice and to extend it to colleges." Cornell also urged the lawmakers to boost funding for the primary school violence prevention program, the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act.

Janet E. Walbert, the President of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the Vice President for Student Affairs at Arcadia University, said all campus departments must work together closely to create the safest possible learning environment: "We must work diligently to address communications issues and elicit critical feedback across campus, including information from colleagues on the faculty, in other administrative departments, in residence halls, and other areas in each of our institutions."

Louanne Kennedy, who served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University at Northridge, discussed her school's response to the 1994 earthquake that devastated their campus and said that effective communications systems were essential for all emergency response plans. "The University is currently testing another mass notification system that can rapidly deliver recorded voice messages (and text messages) to the phones and e-mail inboxes of all students, faculty and staff, including TTY capability for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Communications is the fundamental capability to prevent, react, respond, and recover from an event."

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