A handful of colleges and public schools have experienced the worst-case scenario of a gunman or terrorist on campus in recent history.
However distant or unlikely this threat may seem, students, faculty, staff and visitors at an open campus like Park University are urged to be educated and prepared in case of an emergency situation of any kind.
On April 16, 2007, a massacre took place at the Virginia Tech State University, leaving 33 people dead and 15 injured according to “USA Today.” Of the six classrooms attacked, each reacted differently to the threat – resulting in a varying degree of casualties and injuries. In rooms where barricades were placed in harm’s way or students jumped out of windows, the casualty count were presumably lessened.
John Sulzer, campus safety officer, explained some procedures students should take in case of an active shooter.
“There’s a video called ‘Run, Hide, Fight’,” he said. “The first option is to run if you are able to get out of the building. Escape and go far away from the shooter. The hide part is if you can’t get out of the building, hide and use whatever you can to block the doors, block windows. The fight part is to fight if (a shooter comes) down – throw books, computers, whatever you have to basically incapacitate and get away from that party.”
Campus safety has different procedures as well in case of an active shooter.
“Here, they don’t have active law enforcement on campus,” said Sulzer. “We are campus safety. We don’t carry firearms here so we have to rely on the Parkville police department.”
According to Sulzer, in case of this type of emergency campus safety would lock down the buildings that way no one can get in the buildings but they will be able to get out of them. The only exemption is the academic and commercial underground.
“This won’t keep that party from exiting those buildings,” he said. “But it will keep them from not entering other buildings.”
Campus safety has more information about safety procedures at http://www.park.edu/campus-safety/emergency-procedures.html
Jonuel Martinez, senior education major, said his action would be to hide or run in case of an emergency.
“I think I would try to find the safest place,” he said. “I could go and try to contact 911 or the cops. I don’t think I would try to face the shooter.”
