2008 Woodie Awards
Safety forum addresses campus emergencies
Melissa Howard, Gregg Carr, Jessie Dolan
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News
The crowd was small and the subject serious at the Campus Safety Forum held Monday in the University Commons Auditorium.
"As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting, many of us realize that campus safety is still very important," said Tammy McGuckin, associate vice president for student affairs.
"Unfortunately, many other campuses have had to deal with student deaths. It is still very much an issue that affects all of us."
UWF officials convened the forum to discuss a variety of programs aimed at protecting the safety of students, faculty and staff during an emergency on campus. About 50 people attended the event.
Sirens are located behind Building 36, Building 52, the Health, Leisure and Sports Facility and the baseball field. The main purpose of this system is to alert people who are outside to find shelter as soon as possible in the case of an emergency. The campus police make the decision on when to sound the alarm.
The University also sends out mass e-mails to students, faculty and staff to warn them of any present danger that could affect the campus.
Other outlets UWF uses to notify people on campus of safety issues include telephone messaging to all campus phones; alerts by NOAA weather phones; the electronic entrance sign; WUWF 88.1 FM radio; and Cox Cable channel 4.
The University is working on more services to inform students immediately of pressing safety breaches.
"One of the things that is most important in regards to when you've got an emergency situation is communication," said Peter Robinson, director for environmental health and safety. "We've got to be able to communicate what's going on and what the issue is. The University has a number of mechanisms that we use to communicate information to you."
These mechanisms will include Argo Alert, to be released in April.
"Next month we are adding instant and text messaging through a system called Argo Alert," said Mike F. Dieckmann, senior associate vice president for University affairs. Faculty, staff and students will need to subscribe to Argo Alert to get these messages."
"As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting, many of us realize that campus safety is still very important," said Tammy McGuckin, associate vice president for student affairs.
"Unfortunately, many other campuses have had to deal with student deaths. It is still very much an issue that affects all of us."
UWF officials convened the forum to discuss a variety of programs aimed at protecting the safety of students, faculty and staff during an emergency on campus. About 50 people attended the event.
Sirens are located behind Building 36, Building 52, the Health, Leisure and Sports Facility and the baseball field. The main purpose of this system is to alert people who are outside to find shelter as soon as possible in the case of an emergency. The campus police make the decision on when to sound the alarm.
The University also sends out mass e-mails to students, faculty and staff to warn them of any present danger that could affect the campus.
Other outlets UWF uses to notify people on campus of safety issues include telephone messaging to all campus phones; alerts by NOAA weather phones; the electronic entrance sign; WUWF 88.1 FM radio; and Cox Cable channel 4.
The University is working on more services to inform students immediately of pressing safety breaches.
"One of the things that is most important in regards to when you've got an emergency situation is communication," said Peter Robinson, director for environmental health and safety. "We've got to be able to communicate what's going on and what the issue is. The University has a number of mechanisms that we use to communicate information to you."
These mechanisms will include Argo Alert, to be released in April.
"Next month we are adding instant and text messaging through a system called Argo Alert," said Mike F. Dieckmann, senior associate vice president for University affairs. Faculty, staff and students will need to subscribe to Argo Alert to get these messages."
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