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SAFETY & SECURITY

National Campus Safety and Security Project
The aftermath of the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech focused renewed attention on how colleges and universities deal with campus safety and security issues. Beyond traditional measures to protect students, employees, and property, safety and security efforts undertaken by higher education institutions must now also address the possibility of terrorist actions, such as bomb threats and threats of physical violence against campus research facilities, individual faculty, and administrators. Furthermore, the threat of natural disasters (such as hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes), cyber incidents, and pandemic influenza suggests the scope of campus safety and security has become more complex and all encompassing. The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and a consortium of leading professional organizations (including APPA) committed to campus safety and security launched that National Campus Safety and Security Project (CCSP) in 2008. The goal of the CSSP is to document the current state of college and university emergency preparedness as a means to inform the higher education community about the scope of campus safety and security today. This presentation will focus on one of the important themes that emerged from the national survey conducted as part of the CSSP of over 2200 IHEs – “Approaches to Communication”.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Participants will learn about some of the “lessons learned” from the Virginia Tech tragedy with respect to communication.
2. Participants will learn how some colleges and universities identify what are the current state of campus safety and security and emergency preparedness plans with respect to communication.
3. Participants will discuss the importance of emergency management communications before, during, and after an incident.

SPEAKER:
Bill Elvey, PE, The University of Texas at Dallas

Implementing a Campus Wide Audible Mass Notification System in a Cost Effective Manner
This presentation will provide a case study on how a campus of over 25,000 students and 100 buildings implemented an instantaneous mass notification system (MNS) using audible speakers inside and outside of buildings. The unique aspect of this approach involved leveraging 3,370 existing interior fire alarm speakers with the campus central fire alarm system and adding inexpensive outdoor speakers to create a robust life safety solution in a campus environment. The system provides instantaneous and clear audible messages inside  buildings and outdoor coverage for 356 acres. Many campuses have utilized email, text messaging, web sites, and phones to get an emergency message out to campus occupants. However, these systems lack the opportunity to provide direct intelligible instructions at all locations in and around buildings. Integrating an audible system with many traditional notification methods provides the best overall mass notification system any campus could offer their students. If you don’t have a MNS now, your administration or the life safety code will soon push you to install one.   Those looking for a cost effective MNS solution or want to learn about how a successful system was inexpensively installed on a campus should attend.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Participants will take away an understanding of the different options for an integrated mass notification system and their pros and cons.
2. Participants will learn from the shared experiences of a MSN installation on a large campus.
3. Participant will share in the outcomes of the best practices this peer institution has to provide on the different aspects of mass notification systems.

SPEAKER:
Peter Strazdas, Western Michigan University   

Arcane Knowledge on a Need to Know Basis             
Tragic events occurring over the past several years have greatly increased the visibility of campus security.  Although new products and services now in the marketplace enhance the arsenal of the facilities manager, the ubiquitous mechanical lock and the human element will continue to play a large role. This session will present a survey of topics typically shrouded in mystery including master key system design, the importance of key control, the essential elements of a good campus lock and key policy, the advantages and disadvantages of patent/ high security keys and finally, the integration of card access and video security.  This presentation will include a case study and discussion of  the trade-off between security and convenience and a cost/benefit analysis to help guide decision-makers.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Participants will gain insight into a case study of policy development and implementation.
2. Participants will take away a greater understanding of security hardware, software and human dependencies.
3. Participants will explore an understanding order-of-magnitude costs and system optimization.

SPEAKER(S):
David Hatch, North Carolina State University; Samuel Jeffries, North Carolina State University