What if a train carrying hazardous material overturned near Boston University’s Nickerson Field? Or if Boston were alerted of a possible terrorist attack? What if someone began committing random acts of violence on Commonwealth Avenue? Where would you be? Could BU find you in time to warn you?
On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech senior Sueng-Hui Cho killed 32 university members in one morning. In the days, weeks and months following the tragedy on the Blacksburg, Va. Campus, a media frenzy flew — which included criticism over VT President Charles Stegar’s handling of the shootings, and a nationwide look at how hundreds of campuses — including Boston University — were handling their emergency response systems.
Fast forward four months. University of Colorado at Boulder freshman Michael Knorps is stabbed in the throat by a former university employee in the school’s main food court.
The 17-year-old Knorps was immediately transported to a nearby hospital and released several hours later.
That day, the number of CU Boulder students registered with the school’s brand new emergency notification system jumped from only 500 to 5,000, as shaken students gave the school their cellular phone numbers. By the end of that week, 8,000 were registered.
As of last week, administrators said that number had reached 10,000.
“We saw an immediate rise,” said CU at Boulder Spokesman Bronson Hilliard. “I think every college in America — no matter the size … is going to be investing in communication tools. Everyone is going to be refining their system.”
THE REALITY
Ten thousand students have caught on at CU Boulder, but Boston University’s community has yet to fully do the same.
Of the more than 35,000 BU students and 15,000 faculty and staff, 43 percent have not registered their mobile numbers in the new Send Word Now system, which uses text messages to almost instantly inform the BU community of an on-campus emergency.
Although BU administrators officially launched the new system this summer, it has been in use at the BU Medical campus since last spring. It got a test run on the Charles River Campus last spring when it was used to inform specific employee personnel how to redirect students in heavy snow conditions.
President Robert Brown, now mandating that every BU community member register for the program, is willing to push the agenda further for individuals not yet listening.
“Dr. Brown specifically stated that no one is to be left out of the equation,” said Administrative Services Vice President Peter Fiedler. “That everybody, doesn’t matter if
you’re part-time, full-time, whatever. They need to be included in this system.”
The BU Police Department has had an emergency incident command system in place for years, though some students may not have realized it, Fiedler said.
“If we had a campus-wide emergency, we had protocols and emergency activities planned so that we could respond to situations,” he said, “and deal with virtually anything that happened on this campus.”
Though VT shootings fast-forwarded the roll-out of BU’s system, plans had been in the works before the tragedy. “Obviously, after the Virginia Tech incident in April, all of us were woken up to the fact that communication to students was especially critical,” Fielder said. “Immediately after that, there was a lot of controversy and criticism put upon on the VT administration that they did not get the word out fast enough to students, that there was not an effective system set in place. Some of that is true and some of that isn’t true.”
Nevertheless, the VT shootings brought a committee of department heads — including Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, Student Health Services Director David McBride and Fiedler — together to brainstorm during the summer not only how they would inform the BU community about the new system, but how they would actually get everyone to sign up.
Along with a text message with information regarding an emergency on campus — which can range from severe weather conditions to a terrorist threat — a registered student, faculty or staff member will also simultaneously receive an email with the same information. They will also have an automated messaging system call their line and leave a voicemail message if no one answers.
It only takes about 10 seconds for students to plug their cell phone numbers into the box on the StudentLink.
“We have a ways to go and that concerns us,” said Enrollment and Student Affairs Vice President Laurie Pohl. “We hope people take this seriously.”
Working closely with the Registrar Office and the Information Technology department, Pohl said the offices had recently redesigned a portion of the studentlink website to include an easy-to-access box at the top of the screen that links students to three pieces of information — concerning unsettled student accounts, vaccination records and the emergency response system.
“The bottom line is that we want everyone to be safe,” Robbins said. “To get every single person, it’s going to be a struggle.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Brown, in a formal letter to BU students during the summer introducing the new system, warned them of the potential consequences of not updating their cellular phone number. Although Brown did not elaborate in the letter about what those consequences would be, Fieldler and Pohl both confirmed that students who do not register for the system will be denied registration access for spring semester courses.
“It is certainly a last resort,” Pohl said. “But sometimes, people need a little push. We’re trying to put some more pieces in place.”
University officials are aiming for a 100 percent registration rate on a campus with more than 32,000 registered undergraduate and graduate students.
“Will we get 100 percent? I don’t know,” Fiedler said. I feel strongly about this. In order for us to be effective, in terms of alerting the population … we have to do something about it.”
Pohl said she is also working on other ways of advertising the system to the BU community, but ultimately said she is unsure whether the demand for more communication tools in emergency response was the sign of how not only BU would conduct its procedures, but all college campuses.
“Are we entering a different era? I really don’t think so,” she said. “But it’s our obligation to learn from this tragedy.”
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