Security Director News: There have been many dramatic changes to campus security since the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007 and security leaders continue to find innovative ways to improve safety on their campuses. During a roundtable discussion on campus security on June 23, sponsored by Rave Wireless, three campus security leaders discussed some of the recent initiatives they have implemented, the challenges they continue to face and their innovative plans for the future.

Virginia Tech has "heightened our sensitivity toward staff and students about behavior," said Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami. "We've seen more training and more joint training, and we've integrated an extensive camera system in consolidation with the police department." Shalala said the university has added 129 cameras to its system, bringing it up to 282 cameras, and upgraded its access control system allowing the police department to remotely lock nearly every door on campus in about two minutes, she said. In addition, the university has revived a student program designed to train students to support police as part of its emergency response program. "Students like to help, but they have to be trained properly," she said.

Steve Broccolo, head of emergency preparedness for Kansas State University, agreed that Virginia Tech has elevated the role of campus security. "It's too bad that we were reactive instead of proactive on incidents, and Virginia Tech brought a lot of that to light," he said. "We all looked at what we had in place and decided to change our policies an procedures and add more systems to keep more people safe." Part of the changes made at Kansas State include the formation of committees for emergency and crisis management as well as student behavior and a focus on counseling services, he said.

J.D. Carpenter, vice president for student affairs at West Liberty University, said that for a smaller school like West Liberty, Virginia Tech spurred a "realization that this can happen anywhere and institutions got thinking about response and emergency planning," he said. "For smaller institutions, we developed and instituted [emergency] plans, but they got put on a shelf to gather dust. After Virginia Tech, we pulled those out and paid more attention to them." Carpenter said that the university has increased its use simulations and training procedures so they are ready for any incident on campus. In addition, the university is adding more cameras "as resources allow" as well as adding emergency flipcharts for emergency response in every classroom on campus.

However, while many colleges and universities have made great leaps in terms of security protocols, challenges and risks will always be present. Educating students and parents about security was a challenge, agreed the panelists. "I can't remember the last time I spoke with parents that safety on campus wasn't asked," said Carpenter. "I'm quick to remind them that no campus anywhere is absolutely safe, no matter how much education and gadgets our campus has, it's generally as safe as students allow it to be and they have to realize their role and reinforce it with their students."

Click here to view the webinar.