2008 Woodie Awards
Campus safety reviewed after Bremerton man-on-the-loose incident
Although the incident happened far from the Bremerton campus, students and faculty live and commute through the area around the scene
Anthony James
Issue date:
10/10/07
Section:
Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Last weeks shooting on
Montgomery Avenue made
me think about something:
how could a college campus
be locked down and
accurate information be
disseminated to students
and faculty quickly?
Using an estimate of 200
doors at Olympic College
Bremerton campus (which
is a conservative number
and includes interior
doors), it would take five
guards several minutes,
maybe half an hour, to lock
each door. By the time the
process is complete, the
campus could very well be
in danger.
To my knowledge, most
instructors do not have keys
to the classrooms in which
they teach. I understand
why security doesn't want
hundreds of keys running
around, all of which can
easily be duplicated and
fall into the wrong hands.
OC also lacks an efficient
way of communicating
between both students and
faculty.
During events such as
Thursday's power outage,
a broadcast message can be
sent out to the voicemail
boxes of staff and faculty
as well as an e-mail sent
out to all. These methods
are great if someone sat in
an office all day long. The
school probably doesn't
have a working intercom
system, either.
OC does utilize the Web
site, text messaging and email
to broadcast school
closures, but the Web site
and e-mail are useless to a
student in class and a large
majority of students don't
know about the text messaging
system. Although
it's 2007, some people don't
have cell phones and many
that do have them don't
pay for text messaging.
Ever since the Virginia
Tech massacre in April,
administration has been
working on solutions to the
possibility of a shooter on
campus but in the past six
months, no noticeable outcome
has come from the
discussions.
A college-wide intercom
system would be expensive
to install and maintain. Emails
are useless in class.
But one system exists that,
with some modifications,
Montgomery Avenue made
me think about something:
how could a college campus
be locked down and
accurate information be
disseminated to students
and faculty quickly?
Using an estimate of 200
doors at Olympic College
Bremerton campus (which
is a conservative number
and includes interior
doors), it would take five
guards several minutes,
maybe half an hour, to lock
each door. By the time the
process is complete, the
campus could very well be
in danger.
To my knowledge, most
instructors do not have keys
to the classrooms in which
they teach. I understand
why security doesn't want
hundreds of keys running
around, all of which can
easily be duplicated and
fall into the wrong hands.
OC also lacks an efficient
way of communicating
between both students and
faculty.
During events such as
Thursday's power outage,
a broadcast message can be
sent out to the voicemail
boxes of staff and faculty
as well as an e-mail sent
out to all. These methods
are great if someone sat in
an office all day long. The
school probably doesn't
have a working intercom
system, either.
OC does utilize the Web
site, text messaging and email
to broadcast school
closures, but the Web site
and e-mail are useless to a
student in class and a large
majority of students don't
know about the text messaging
system. Although
it's 2007, some people don't
have cell phones and many
that do have them don't
pay for text messaging.
Ever since the Virginia
Tech massacre in April,
administration has been
working on solutions to the
possibility of a shooter on
campus but in the past six
months, no noticeable outcome
has come from the
discussions.
A college-wide intercom
system would be expensive
to install and maintain. Emails
are useless in class.
But one system exists that,
with some modifications,
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