Utah colleges evaluating safety

"In the case of a shooting, we do not have anything in place," said John DeVilbiss, Utah State University spokesman. USU's current emergency policy addresses procedures for such situations as natural disasters and bomb threats, but it does not address random, human-caused, sometimes debilitating emergencies.

"This just ramps everything up for our institution and every institution," DeVilbiss said.

The Logan school's Emergency Response Preparation Committee will be meeting to discuss a revision sometime in the next two weeks.

"Since 9/11, we have all been made aware of our vulnerabilities and the terroristic acts that can occur. But something as random as a shooting, how do you prevent that?" DeVilbiss said. "It's something we're going to look at very seriously."

Dixie State College reported Friday its police department held training Tuesday to review campus emergency procedures and met with area law enforcement agencies to review collaborative emergency measures.

Campus Police Director Don Reid said $50,000 in surveillance cameras are being installed throughout the St. George Campus and its satellite center in Hurricane.

Dixie State on Friday announced a new contract with an automated messaging company for a system that will allow administrators to alert all students of upcoming events and of emergencies via the students' cell phone or other designated contact method.

At its annual planning meeting in St. George this week, the Utah State Board of Regents Chairman Jed H. Pitcher asked for a study on the crisis response teams at every university, to be presented at its next meeting.

"We'd like to know what is in place and some recommendations for the best practices for the system," he said.

Protecting the hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and staff on Utah's campuses at any one time is something officials, even on the state level, have become increasingly concerned with in the past week. However, such concern isn't completely new.

"Safety on the institutional level has been a concern as long as I can remember," said Rich Kendell, Utah's commissioner of higher education. He expressed concern and sympathy to those impacted by the recent shooting, which has drawn international attention to campus safety issues.

Providing students with a safe environment to be able to study and learn, as well as not infringing on their constitutional rights, including gun privileges, he said, is a primary concern for officials in higher education.

"We want students to feel free to express themselves and express their different ideas, as well as make sure their rights are protected," Kendell said.

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