State report urges campus warning systems
Gov. Rod Blagojevich urged universities Tuesday to consider adding public address systems to notify students of danger -- a deficit brought out in a Daily Herald report -- and he is seeking money to pay for it.
In releasing a yearlong state study on campus security, the governor also highlighted the need for police training, practice drills and better radio communications across the state. He singled out Northern Illinois University's response to its Valentine's Day mass shooting as an example of how to handle such assaults.
"God forbid, it could have been far worse than it was," he said, noting police were reportedly on the scene within two to three minutes.
The state report was commissioned shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings that left 32 people dead one year ago today. At NIU, the gunman shot five students to death before turning the gun on himself.
The Daily Herald reported Sunday that just two out of 27 universities and colleges surveyed had universal public address systems even though a report on Virginia Tech's campus shooting endorsed them as an effective tool to quickly notify students.
Several of the state's largest universities lacked the public address systems, including Southern Illinois University, Illinois State University, University of Illinois and NIU.
The state's report offers colleges a litany of recommendations from mental health awareness campaigns to response drills. It does not specifically require universities to install universal public address systems that broadcast both on campus and in buildings.
Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Velasquez said not one alert system is right for all campuses. The report recommends multiple systems, including public address speakers and blast e-mail, text and voicemail messages.
But when asked about the lack of public address systems on large campuses, Blagojevich said it was an issue that concerned him. He said part of the $25 million he hopes to set aside for campus security could be spent to add them across the state. The funding will need General Assembly approval.
The Daily Herald survey found that all but five of the 27 colleges and universities already had blast e-mail, text or voicemail alert systems installed or purchased.
The governor will be proposing legislation to lawmakers to make some of the recommendations into mandates. A top priority, he said, was to mandate every college draft emergency response and violence prevention plans.