It is that time of year when learning center administrators begin to think about the Fall semester. That said, I have mixed emotions as I begin this essay about learning center preparedness: sad that it is necessary; apprehensive that I am able to do something; certain that I must. Perhaps by the end I will have found, if not a solution, then a sense of preparation.

During a regular workday, the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s (UNCW) University Learning Center will host approximately fifty tutors and one hundred tutees. In light of tragic events such as those at Virginia Tech in the Spring of 2007 and Northern Illinois in the Spring of 2008, many questions have been occurring to me with regard to my Learning Center’s preparedness for dealing with an emergency situation:

• What is the university’s role?
• Am I responsible for my tutors?
• How do I prepare myself and my tutors for a threatening situation?
• Are my tutors responsible for their tutees?
• The University Learning Center has emergency plans in place for fire, and because we are located on the coast, a hurricane, but do we need a plan for
for this “threat”?
• Each of our 8x10 tutoring rooms has a glass window in the door—how do we prepare it for “lockdown”?
• Our Learning Lab is a large room that can have up to three tutors and twenty students in it at one time (it also has a glass window in both doors)--how do we prepare it for “lockdown”?
• Our lobby area, which two front desk workers occupy, has a glass wall front that faces a central hallway--how do we prepare it for “lockdown”?

What is the university’s role?
The online article “Talking with Students About Campus Safety,” states that students are “…going to question authority.” For example: “What is your campus doing to keep students safe so they don’t have to go through what NIU or Virginia Tech did? Why didn’t officials do more? How can we trust people who are supposed to keep us safe?”
In June of 2004, UNCW created two task forces to review the safety, security, and education programs at the university. General initiatives suggested by this task force included curricular and academic issues and research; support services; human resources and professional development; communication and outreach; and personnel and services issues. UNCW has numerous ways to communicate with students, faculty, and staff during an emergency: an outdoor siren system, an emergency website, an emergency hotline phone number, email messages, cell phone voice and text messages, and an emergency cable interrupt system for all television on campus.

UNCW uses some or all of these communication tools, depending on the nature of the emergency. In case of an emergency, an email is sent to all UNCW students and employees alerting them to the situation. However, not everyone has access to a computer at all times. So, in addition to email, both students and employees have the option of signing up to have a text message sent to their cell phone in case of an emergency. However, as a Chronicle of Higher Education article reported in October of 2007, “While the cell phone alerts are promising because they can quickly reach students wherever they are, the technology usually involves voluntary participation…” (Foster). Unfortunately, not all students or even all faculty/staff have opted to utilize this service. Moreover, there have been reports of universities who have established these cell phone services only to encounter glitches: “Realizing that technology can and often does fail, most colleges are combining high- and low-tech methods to advise people of what to do in a crisis” (Foster).

One low-tech emergency warning tool that UNCW has installed is the Seahawk Warning Siren System, which consists of emergency sirens located on the roofs of two campus buildings: one in the front of campus and one in the back of campus. UNCW Police will sound this outdoor warning system when an emergency occurs on campus that requires a “shelter in place” response. This means that everyone on campus should seek shelter and take cover in the nearest building. The sirens provide an effective way generate a mass warning to the UNCW community that an emergency is occurring on campus.

Am I responsible for my tutors?
Faculty and staff of higher education institutions do have a responsibility to provide, within reason, a safe learning environment for their students. But how does one define this responsibility? The online article “Processing and Reflection Questions to Use with Students: Addressing the Northern Illinois University Tragedy,” warns that “You may find a student entering your office to just ‘talk’ or the agenda for a student meeting may be spontaneously altered to process student feelings and fears surrounding the incident at NIU.”

I must admit, last year after the Virginia Tech tragedy, I did a poor job of allowing this type of dialogue. I was teaching four English classes that semester; the Virginia Tech tragedy was on April 16th, and the next session I had with my classes was not until April 18th. Quite mistakenly I assumed that other instructors had already brought up the subject and that the students would have talked themselves out. I was wrong. At the end of my third class, somehow in the midst of a literature discussion (in retrospect this was simply an exasperated student’s attempt to present the subject), the Virginia Tech tragedy was introduced by a student. So we discussed it for five minutes—not nearly enough time to cover all the ground needed. I was shocked to learn from the students that none of my faculty colleagues had brought it up in their classes either. I was guilty by deed and association. So in my fourth class, I devoted half the class to a discussion of the incident (After all, I had a syllabus and a schedule to cover, right?).

Wrong. For all our talk of learning across the curriculum and holistic learning, sometimes we in higher education do a poor job of teaching. And a great aspect of teaching is listening. If the students needed it, I should have allowed an entire class session for a discussion of their fears. On that teaching day, I failed to teach--or rather, I failed to learn because I failed to listen.

Since that day my job duties have changed; because I have assumed new duties in the Learning Center, I did not teach in the Fall of 20007 or the Spring of 2008. I will, however, be teaching this Fall, and I hope that I am a better instructor. One of the things I have learned from my teaching colleagues is to become more aware of the classroom surroundings. One of my colleagues provided an example. After the Northern Illinois tragedy, he posed this question to his class: “What would you do if there was a shooter in the hall?”

One student replied, “Open the window and jump out.” My colleague, knowing that the window was painted shut, invited the student to try to open the window. After several strained attempts, the student gave up.

Another student said, “Barricade the door.”
“With what?” The instructor asked.

The student looked around. “The desk,” he said, pointing to the teacher’s short, light-weight desk, the only large object in the room.

“What about the window? A shooter could simply break the window…” And so the dialogue continued. But at least they were talking—at least the students were considering their options in case of an emergency.

How do I prepare myself and my tutors?
So yes, I have a certain responsibility to the tutors I oversee in the Learning Center, just as I do for students when I am teaching. First of all, as I do with my students, I should provide my tutors with an opportunity for discussion. Because our Learning Center tutors have varied schedules, they are never all in one place at one time. However, we have several workshops a month, and many of the tutors attend these workshops. So, after reading the article, “Rethinking the Unimaginable: The Need for Teacher Education in Peace Education,” I decided that at the end of the scheduled workshop on 4/4/08, I would open up the discussion with this quote: “Human tragedy and suffering will always be shocking, but the increasing frequency with which these violent events occur is evidence that our responses have not gone deep enough” (Jenkins 366). I believe the discussion helped both the tutors and the Learning Center staff process the possibility and their potential response to a threatening situation.

In addition to philosophical discussions, the physical characteristics of the Learning Center office needed to be addressed. Our Learning Center provides unique challenges in trying to make it “secure”: each of our 8x10 tutoring rooms has a glass window in the door; our Learning Lab is a large room that can have up to three tutors and twenty students in it at one time (it also has a glass window in both doors); our lobby area, which is occupied by two front desk workers, has a glass wall front that faces a central hallway. How do we prepare each of these unique environments for “lockdown”?

The UNCW Police have a website from which I downloaded the “Community Response Checklist: Active Shooter Incident.” The following suggestions are under the heading “Secure Immediate Area”:
• Lock and barricade doors
• Turn off lights
• Close blinds
• Block windows
• Turn off radios and computer monitors
• Keep occupants calm, quiet, and out of sight
• Keep yourself out of sight and take adequate cover/protection i.e. concrete
walls, thick desks, filing cabinets (cover may protect you from bullets)
• Silence cell phones
• Place signs in exterior windows to identify the location of injured persons

The phrase “cover may protect you from bullets” in statement number seven really brings the point home. And if that is not sobering enough, the tone of the following list from the UNCW police on “Un-Securing an Area” makes this campus of higher education sound like a potential war zone:
• Consider risks before un-securing rooms
• Remember, the shooter will not stop until they are engaged by an outside force
• Attempts to rescue people should only be attempted if it can be accomplished without
further endangering the persons inside a secured area.
• Consider the safety of masses –vs- the safety of a few
• If doubt exists for the safety of the individuals inside the room, the area should remain
secured

Hence my sadness. But preparation, though sometimes unpleasant, is essential: “The notion of ‘threat assessment teams’ seems foreign to institutions of higher learning. But something like them is necessary to evaluate a wide range of possible incidents: storms, toxic spills, or leaks, pandemics, and, yes, active shooters” (Davies 14). I must get beyond my thoughts of “What kind of world do we live in when…” to thoughts of my responsibilities.

Are my tutors responsible for their tutees?
Tutors are not legally responsible for their tutees; however, tutors are employees and representatives of the university. So even though our tutoring is promoted and implemented as a “peer” relationship, in a time of crisis, the tutee will naturally look to the tutor for guidance. For that reason, it is necessary that I train tutors in the most appropriate manner.

Does the Learning Center need a plan?
Yes, but since I am not a security expert, I had one of the UNCW Police lieutenants come and do a walk- through of our office to provide suggestions. The lieutenant reiterated the information from the “Community Checklist” and provided specific suggestions on how the UNCW Learning Center could prepare to respond to a threatening situation. The following is a working draft of the Learning Center’s emergency procedures that I have outlined, following the lieutenant’s suggestions:
I. If “Shelter in Place” or “Lockdown” order is given:
A. Lobby (Front Desk Workers and any students in the lobby)
1. Go to lobby bathrooms, lock doors
B. Learning Lab
1. Close (door locks automatically) and barricade doors
2. Turn off lights, cell phones, etc (stop anything that attracts attention)
3. Get away from windows and doors
4. Turn over table(s) and get behind it for protection
C. Tutoring Rooms and Offices
1. Close and barricade doors
2. Turn off lights, cell phones, etc (stop anything that attracts attention)
3. Get away from windows and doors
4. Turn over table(s) and get behind it for protection
D. All Areas
1. Remain quiet.
2. Remain in secure area until police secure the building and give the all-clear

In the article, “Connecting the Dots: Lessons from the Virginia Tech Shootings,” Gordon Davies states, “There may not be a way to ensure that a mass killing like the one at Tech never happens again, but we can lessen the chance that one will” (9). As I walked with the lieutenant through the Learning Center, I began to feel better about my preparation. I know that I cannot prevent a random event; however, by considering my options and rehearsing my response to a threatening situation, I will at least have something to fall back on in case of an emergency. And I will pass this something on to my tutors, in hopes that the “unimaginable” never happens.

Works Cited

Davies, Gordon K. “Connecting the Dots: Lessons from the Virginia Tech Shootings.”
Change 40.1 (2008): 8-15.

Foster, Andrea. “After Virginia Tech, Campuses Rush to Add Alert Systems.”
Chronicle of Higher Education 54.6 (2007): Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost.
U of North Carolina Wilmington Lib. 4 March 2008
<http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=9&hid=101sid=0876cd56>.

Jenkins, Tony. “Rethinking the Unimaginable: The Need for Teacher Education in Peace
Education.” Harvard Educational Review 77.3 (2007): 366-68.

“Processing and Reflection Questions to Use with Students: Addressing the Northern Illinois
University Tragedy.” Paper Clip Communications 4 March 2008
<http://www.paper-clip.com/ME2/Audiences/dirsect>.

“Talking with Students About Campus Safety,” Paper Clip Communications
4 March 20008 <http://www.paper-clip.com/ME2/Audiences/dirsect>.

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