President Machen Addresses Northern Illinois Incident
February 15, 2008
Dear students, faculty, staff, concerned parents and others in the university community:
We are all stunned by the shootings yesterday at Northern Illinois University west of Chicago. Sadly, it is only the latest in a horrific string of mass murders in academic settings. While we are shocked, we also find ourselves once again asking the question, "Are we prepared?"
Let me begin by updating you on some things that have occurred here at UF since the Virginia Tech incident last April.
In January, we conducted the first test of our emergency text messaging system for students, faculty and staff. The test, performed in conjunction with Mobile Campus, showed that our text message reached 86 percent of its intended audience of more than 40,000 people within 50 minutes. The test, believed to be the largest of its kind to date, helped us identify some glitches and fix them. We expect the next test, which we expect to conduct this summer, to reach recipients with roughly 20 minutes. The list of people signed up to receive text messages now tops 50,000, most of them students.
In the event of a major campus emergency, text messaging would be accompanied by postings on the UF home page that would be updated regularly with the latest announcements, and e-mails would be sent out at the same time to all students, faculty and staff advising them of the situation. In addition, we have rolled out what some refer to as a "reverse 911" system that allows us to send a recorded message to telephones across campus notifying faculty and staff of any emergency. We are in the process of gathering information needed to extend that ability to cell phones, one of the fastest ways to reach students, as many of you know. All of this would be accompanied by news media alerts.
In addition, the University of Florida Police Department in December became the first university law enforcement agency in the country to accomplish the "Triple Crown" -- accreditation by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA). This recognition speaks to the tremendous professionalism of UFPD and the quality of its officers.
As a reminder, UFPD trains regularly for a variety of possible emergency situations, including just such a scenario: a gunman on campus. UFPD conducts exercises in conjunction with the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and has a thorough and extensive response plan.
As details of the Northern Illinois tragedy are beginning to emerge, some have suggested that perhaps the days of free and open college campuses should be a thing of the past.
I couldn't disagree more.
The openness universities is enjoy is the very embodiment of academic values. Even if we could feasibly place gates at campus entrances and send students through metal detectors, I would argue that building such a police state would serve only to create an atmosphere of fear and closed thinking.
Instead, we must continue to strike that delicate balance between safety and openness. I believe we all agree that this is the very bedrock of our society, one well worth preserving.
For now, please keep in your thoughts and prayers the victims of the NIU shooting and their friends and families.
Sincerely,
Bernie Machen
President