Illinois union confronts a tragedy
Virginia Tech response provided lessons

JOLTED BY THE TRAGIC EVENTS at Virginia Tech one year ago, administrators and staff at Northern Illinois University spent the following year working to improve their own emergency response procedures. That planning proved sadly prescient when NIU had to face the unthinkable on Feb. 14: A gunman opened fire in a campus lecture hall, killing five students, injuring 16 and then turning the gun on himself.

From how the campus was notified of the emergency, to the speed with which buildings were locked down and the campus evacuated, the security response was "incredibly fast," says Sandy Flood, NIU chapter president of the University Professionals of Illinois/AFT.
The incident began just after 3 p.m. in the Cole Hall lecture room of graduate employee Joseph Peterson. Within two minutes, campus police had arrived, and by 3:07 p.m. the building was locked down. At 3:20 p.m., the campus had posted an alert on the university's Web site and set in motion other campuswide notifications, including e-mail and voice-mail alerts and a siren alarm system.

NIU's emergency response was shaped by what had happened at Virginia Tech the year before. At the time, says Flood, "it seemed similar to what could happen on our campus because we have just one door leading into most of our classrooms." That tragedy spurred NIU to study and beef up its own crisis response system.

When NIU's president announced it as a priority, Flood sought input from her members, who are full-time, temporary instructors. She worked with the assistant to the NIU president and the safety committee, which was preparing an emergency response manual. "I got a flood of information," she says, including at least 20 lengthy e-mails that she shared with the committee.

Most of the ideas were reflected in the updated NIU Emergency Guide that was distributed to the university in September 2007 and posted online. For example, in some buildings, locks were installed on all classroom doors, and keys were distributed to the faculty and instructors who use them. The university also implemented multiple notification systems, all of which were used on Feb. 14. It is looking into adding text messaging to the mix.

In the weeks and months that have followed, NIU has benefited more from the experience of Virginia Tech, whose president has kept in close communication with NIU. When the university reopened, students and faculty found hundreds of counselors on hand and numerous other resources to help them process the shock. The outpouring was overwhelming, but welcome, says Flood, with banners quoting NIU's fight song, "Forward Together Forward," and the school emblem—the Huskie—planted everywhere.

At a college, anyone can come on campus anytime, and Flood doesn't see that changing. Mobility and openness are part of the education process, she says. Yet the risks of that open environment are something faculty and staff in particular will never forget—the reminders are with them every working day.