Sounding the alert on campus threats

A full year after the Virginia Tech massacre, Illinois college campuses have taken noticeable steps to tighten security -- but many still lack universal public address systems that could help students avoid danger.

Instead, most campuses rely on a patchwork of blast e-mail, voice mail and text message alerts, a Daily Herald survey of college security has found.

Some experts say those systems might fail to reach enough students in enough time to get them to safety.

"Who is going to find out what is going on when they are in a classroom?" said Mathew Lippman, a University of Illinois-Chicago criminal justice professor who specializes in security concerns.

Lippman argues that a universal public address system is the best way to get emergency information to the most people instantly as opposed to text messages, e-mail or voice mail that rely on immediate access to a phone or computer.

Since a student ruthlessly shot 32 people to death in the nation's bloodiest school shooting nearly one year ago, university officials have been searching for ways to keep students safe from such unpredictable violence.

The hunt for answers intensified locally when a gunman shot five Northern Illinois University students and himself to death in a packed lecture hall on Valentine's Day.

And numerous scares on campuses in the Chicago region have heightened fears: On Friday, St. Xavier University, which has campuses in Chicago and Orland Park, sent students home indefinitely after threatening graffiti was discovered in a dorm bathroom. In late February, a University of Illinois at Chicago student was arrested for allegedly making e-mail threats of violence, and threats were found in a dorm bathroom at Illinois State University.

Many acknowledge that preventing such violence, however rare, is nearly impossible. So the focus has shifted to increasing police response times, improving training, updating radio communication equipment and installing new campus alert systems.

To be sure, universities and college campuses across Illinois have been increasing security and updating alert systems over the last year at a rapid clip.

All but five of the 27 colleges and universities surveyed by the Daily Herald either have or are getting blast voice mail or text messaging systems. Additionally, the state recently distributed 300 new interoperable police radios and campus police across the state have redrafted and practiced emergency response plans with the help of state authorities.

But many of the largest universities in Illinois still rely on a hodgepodge public address system -- if one at all.

The University of Illinois, Southern, Illinois State and Northern universities only have public address systems in their dorms and those have to be separately activated. Eastern and Western have outdoor address systems that cannot be easily heard inside dorms or academic buildings.

All together, these universities instruct more than 117,000 students on their sprawling campuses.

Meanwhile, several smaller colleges have public address systems either inside buildings or on campus grounds, including suburban community colleges such as Oakton, Harper, DuPage, McHenry and Lake, as well as private universities including Trinity, Roosevelt and Northwestern, according to the Daily Herald survey.

"We are taking care to make sure our alert system is quick, reliable and redundant," said Phil Burdick, a spokesman for Harper, which is in the process of adding an outside public address system. "Unfortunately, with each one of these tragedies, there are lessons learned and we pay very close attention to what they are."

In all, just two of the 27 colleges surveyed currently have universal public address systems that allow authorities to broadcast an immediate message both inside and outside academic buildings and dorms.

Alerts are critical

The lack of public address systems, especially at the larger universities, appears to fly in the face of security recommendations to come out of an exhaustive review of the Virginia Tech massacre.

"It is critical to alert the entire campus population when there is an imminent danger," the report concludes.

The report recommends a combination of voice mail, text, e-mail, Web site and public address notification systems -- with the last option identified as one of the most effective because it reaches the most students instantly.

"It can give a quick warning that something is afoot," the report said. "One can hear such alarms regardless of whether electronics are carried, whether the electronics are turned off…"

Plus, an Illinois report on campus security due out in the coming weeks is expected to recommend universities adopt a multitude of notification systems.

Still, neither the Virginia Tech report nor the Illinois report explicitly says a public address system is imperative.

And, it's likely the most expensive of the options, running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for large universities, by some estimates.

Andrew Velasquez III, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said he is leaving it up to college officials to determine what notification measures are appropriate.

"Any technology that will help to get the information out as quickly as possible will be a benefit," he said. "Our recommendation is going to be that colleges and universities look at multiple layers."

Virginia Tech's failure to quickly alert students was much criticized in the aftermath of the nation's bloodiest school shooting.

Police first responded to a dorm shooting that day and thought the shooter had left the campus. Instead, the gunman eventually went to another school building to continue the rampage.

At the time, Virginia Tech was able to broadcast emergency warnings through a partially completed, outdoor public address system as well as a blast e-mail and voice mail system. But the systems weren't used to warn students to stay alert after the first shooting.

NIU only had an e-mail and Web alert system in place when a gunman shot six to death inside Cole Hall.

The DeKalb shooting spree is notably different from Virginia Tech's. The gunman targeted one classroom and didn't roam the campus. Police say the shooting lasted a few minutes before the gunman took his own life.

NIU spokeswoman Melanie Magara said she is not sure if a public address system would have helped during the shooting because it was over so quickly. However, she said that in a hostage situation or lengthy shooting spree, a campus-wide public address system could help direct students to safety.

NIU officials are seriously considering adding a campuswide, centrally controlled public address system, Magara said.

PA or not?

Officials at some of Illinois' largest universities also are considering a centralized public address system to strengthen their battery of security measures.

"There are a lot of different options out there and we are in the process of seeing what they cost," said U of I Police Chief Jeff Christensen. "We realize that you can't count on one single tool."

ISU officials are in a similar situation -- continuing to review whether a universal public a address system is necessary at the Bloomington-Normal campus, said spokesman Jay Groves.

Earlier this year, Western officials took steps to add 21 outdoor speakers controlled at a central location to notify students in an emergency. The project is ongoing and may be expanded to include academic buildings and dorms at the Macomb campus.

"You will have people outside who might not hear their phone ring and they are not near a computer," said spokeswoman Darcie Shinberger. "We had to have a way to get word out to people who are walking around the campus."

Eastern has a speaker on top of one building in the center of its relatively small campus in Charleston. However, those in classrooms and near dorms a few blocks from campus can't easily hear it. Spokeswoman Vicki Woodard said officials are considering expanding the system.

But at Southern's Carbondale campus, university officials have put off a universal public address system for now as they search for funding. Currently, almost every department office and dorm front desk has a radio transmitter that can receive emergency messages. The university also has a blast e-mail and text system.

Southern spokesman Rod Sievers said a universal public address system will likely cost the school several hundred thousand dollars, while the e-mail and text message cost a fraction of that. He said exact figures were not available.

University officials are currently searching out federal or state grants to add a universal public address system, he said.

"The cost of it was just astronomical," he said of the public address system. "We would like to have it, but we do feel that with everything else we have we are pretty good."

So far, state emergency officials will largely leave it up to college officials to determine what safeguards are adequate.

"Every college and university is unique," said Velasquez, while adding, "the larger the campus, the more robust you want to have the communication system."