“Colleges Wade Into Survival Training for Campus Shootings”
Chronicle of Higher Education (06/27/08) Vol. LIV, No. 42, P. A20 ; Hoover, Eric
Approximately 50 colleges have placed orders for “Shots Fired on Campus,” an instructional DVD from a Spokane, Wash., company that should be available by late June. Several hundred more colleges will likely order the DVD, which offers strategies for avoiding and surviving a school shooting, by the start of the new school year, as many continue to prepare for gun rampages in the wake of last year’s Virginia Tech tragedy. While many colleges have launched training programs for employees, fewer have coached students on how to respond to school violence. The company releasing the new video, the Center for Personal Protection & Safety, typically specializes in prevention of workplace violence. But after upwards of 300 colleges licensed a DVD it made on what to do in the event of an office shooting, the company decided to create “Shots Fired on Campus,” which sells for $495. For an additional $1,000, colleges can purchase media files of the video to post on their Web sites. The 20-minute video features interviews with law-enforcement specialists and demonstrates to viewers how running, hiding, or barricading a door could help them survive an incident. It also shows how a group of individuals might overpower and seize a gunman’s weapon by spreading out and teaming up. The University of North Florida intends to show the video during resident-assistant training sessions before urging members of student organizations to watch it. Clemson University will likely post the video on its network, so all members of the campus community can watch it online. Police officers there also plan on including it in presentations on campus safety. Colleges who use the DVD, however, should not forget about preventative efforts to detect and help disturbed students, advises Alyssa S. Keehan, a risk analyst with United Educators Insurance, a leading insurer of colleges.
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