Sunday evening's severe weather warnings were hard to miss. Texts, emails and announcements on MyMiami made it clear to students that severe weather was rolling in and Miami University wants us to stay safe. In grade school, fire, earthquake or tornado drills and maybe even practice lockdowns were the norm-school safety was not just talked about; faculty and students were equipped and ready for just about anything.
According to the Associated Press, Ball State University was, "partially locked down for hours on Friday after several witnesses reported hearing someone shouting 'gun!'" near the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. After searching several campus buildings, an "all-clear" notice was sent out around 8 p.m. on Friday.
The Miami Student Editorial Board, like many students, was notified by Miami University's Emergency system on Sunday of the tornado warnings-some of us are also signed up for Miami's "Emergency Text Massaging System." We also check MyMiami's Announcements page regularly, which effectively communicates on and off-campus news for all students to see.
But we wonder what Miami has in store for emergencies that don't show up on Accuweather's Doppler center. Scenarios like the Virginia Tech shooting or the Ball State University lockdown aren't something we ever want to think about, but having a plan is not an option - it is a necessity.
So we visited the Emergency Preparedness and Procedures page on the Miami University Police Department's website. The common theme on this page is how Miami plans to communicate to people that something has gone wrong or is about to go wrong.
The site reads, "Depending upon the situation, e-mails could be sent to students themselves and/or to the emergency contact (parent, guardian) that students have specified. As backup, there are also emergency "swing signs" that could be placed around campus and there is a system in place for distributing posters and fliers to residence halls and academic buildings."
We have seen Miami use this "Plan A" they talk about: e-mail notifications to students and/or guardians. But we haven't experienced these "swing signs" or posters and fliers in buildings first-hand. So we are curious to see what these would even look like or if they would even be effective.
And then on the Emergency Preparedness Page, we see a list of "potential dangers" including Bomb Threat, Chemical Spill, Hazardous Gas, Severe Weather , Shooter, and Evacuation of People with Disabilities.
The Editorial Board wanted to focus on Miami's plan when it comes to a "shooter" since these events seem to be the most intimidating and it also seems shootings are becoming more and more prevalent. We clicked on the page and were pleasantly surprised. The page outlines protocol for when the active shooter is outside or inside the building, when the active shooter enters your office or classroom, how to move from your current location and finally, what to expect from responding police officers. A video is even posted to visually demonstrate the suggested code of conduct.
Miami says, "This document provides guidance to faculty, staff and students who may be caught in an active shooter situation, and describes what to expect from responding police officers." Clear enough. But we are concerned that Miami is ignoring the importance of actually training faculty, staff and students how to act in these emergencies. Posting a video and brief outline of protocol on a University webpage is not enough.
Our campus operating system is totally different from grade school-but university lockdowns and shooters are very real at college campuses and there is often little or no time to post fliers, posters or "swing signs" around campus.
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We realize these emergency situations are unlikely but we feel as if faculty, staff and students are not trained to protect themselves correctly at this point in time. Miami could and should implement a training program, similar to the fire safety drill all first years go through, but for other situations like mass shootings, bomb threats, evacuations or severe weather.
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