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Campus Emergency Preparedness Plans Outlined
at Chancellor's Town Hall
Ioana Patringenaru | May 7, 2007
A reverse 911 system, campuswide text messaging, counseling services and a trained police department. These are some of the key components of UCSD’s emergency preparedness plans, outlined Monday during a standing-room-only town hall meeting at the Price Center.
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| Chancellor Marye Anne Fox listens to Police Chief Orville King. |
 Click here to watch the video of the town hall meeting. |
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The meeting was called after a lone gunman killed 32 and wounded several at Virginia Tech April 16. Two weeks later, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox talked about what UCSD is doing to keep a similar tragedy from happening here.
“I think all of you realize that what happened at Virginia Tech was a president’s or a chancellor’s worst nightmare,” Fox said, before asking for a moment of silence to remember colleagues at Virginia Tech.
“We’re trying to do all that we can to avert such a tragedy here,” she added later.
She and three other UCSD officials spoke about police, psychological counseling and environment, health and safety services available on campus. They also answered questions from an audience of about 500. Another 171 people watched a live Webcast of the event.
UCSD has a reverse 911 system, which will leave messages on office phones, said Phillip Van Saun, manager of emergency services for environment, health and safety. University officials also are working with a vendor to put in place an emergency text messaging service by the end of May. Enrollment will be voluntary, Van Saun said. It also will be easy: a campuswide announcement will go out with a link that will allow recipients to sign up, he said. He encouraged students, staff and faculty to include their cell phone, work and home phone numbers. The new system will be advertised on Tritonlink and through a comprehensive marketing campaign to make sure students enroll, Vice Chancellor Joe Watson said.
| Additional Information |
Read an article about the Campus Emergency Response Team
here.
Visit the Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Website.
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UCSD provides many resources to learn more about emergency preparedness:
Campuswide Emergencies guide
Psychological and Counseling Services website
UCSD Police Department: (858) 534-HELP
An emergency hotline for parents: (888) 308-8273
UCSD’s homepage, will be updated with the latest information in an emergency |
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Police cars also can use their public announcement system to alert the campus, Van Saun said. The police department also has access to a helicopter equipped with a public address system. Campus police also are working on prevention, Police Chief Orville King said. The department is now fully staffed with 35 officers. They patrol the campus in cars and on bikes. To watch over what is essentially a city, they get help from a community crime-prevention program, with students acting as community service officers, King said. It’s really important that campus community members help the police by reporting unusual and suspicious activity immediately, he said.
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| Chancellor Fox with Emergency Services Manager Phillip Van Saun, left, and Police Chief King, right. |
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“We rely on our community; we rely on everyone in this room to be eyes and ears, to pay attention, to understand your surroundings,” he said. “Please think of yourself as a member of the police department,” he later added. “We are a team. So please do that for me.”
Members of the campus community can call (858) 534-HELP with their concerns, King said. In an emergency, they will be connected to the UCSD Police Department when they dial 911 from a landline. Dialing 911 on a cell phone will connect the caller with the California Highway Patrol, the police chief cautioned. All but four classrooms campuswide are equipped with phones, officials said.
To better prepare, members of the campus community can take an online class titled “Dealing with emergencies at UCSD,” Van Saun said. They can also volunteer for the Campus Emergency Response Team. “That will really help us to help each other and that’s our goal,” he said.
Meanwhile, during a Q&A session, officials fielded several questions about how to report troubled students who might not seek help for themselves. Deans, including resident deans and college deans, as well as the Office of Graduate Studies, have the power to order a mandatory assessment for students, said Jeanne Manese, the training director for UCSD’s psychological counseling services.
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| About 500 people attended the town hall. |
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Her department worked with about 2000 students last year, she said. Staff members also reach out to parents at orientation, put on workshops and work with resident advisors, Manese said. Violence isn’t predictable, she said, but psychologists have risk-assessment tools at their disposal to try and prevent it. Warning signs include a history of violence, a history of anti-social behavior, social isolation and violent writings, she said. Anyone who has concerns can contact the center directly, she added.
“Campus mental health is in everyone’s best interest,” Manese said.
Several staff members said the town hall was useful.
“I had no idea that they had so many systems in place to communicate with students and staff,” said Tehseen Lazzouni, a program coordinator in mechanical and aerospace engineering. That’s reassuring, she said, adding that she is considering becoming a CERT volunteer.
Jackie Johnson, the graduate funding coordinator for chemistry and biochemistry, said she was very pleased that top campus officials decided to organize the town hall. “It lets us know that at the chancellor’s level they care for our safety and they have a plan,” she said.
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