ACC officials reevaluate procedures following shootings

As the nation heals from the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus, schools around the nation, including Austin Community College, are taking closer look into their own security procedures.

Cho Seung-Hui, an English major at Virginia Tech, armed with two semiautomatic pistols, killed 32 people, including himself and injured 29 others. The shootings occurred at two separate locations on the campus with a two-hour gap in between.

Police were called in after the first shooting but did not evacuate the school as it was thought to be an isolated, domestic incident. The second shooting produced the most casualties and authorities were soon criticized for not evacuating the campus to prevent further harm to other students.

ACC President Steven Kinslow released a statement two days later. Kinslow expressed heartfelt condolences for the Virginia Tech community and directed students to a list of emergency procedures at the college Environmental and Health Safety website. The site includes an outline on how to react if a similar crisis happens at ACC.

"We always had a procedure in place. ACC officers have been to workshops to handle different situations," ACC spokesperson Veronica Obregon said.

Obregon says that in the past, the Crisis Management Team has brought in specialists to teach certain ACC employees crisis procedures. She also says that when a new way of handling a situation comes up, the Crisis Management Team sets up another specialist to present it in a workshop.

ACC College Chief of Police, Frankie Waller, says this keeps the school up to date with the latest ways to keep students safe.

"We're constantly changing our policies and procedures," Waller said. "If there are any lessons to be learned from Virginia Tech, we want to use them."

The Crisis Management Team is also now meeting once a week instead of once a month. Obregon said this change is not a direct response to the Virginia Tech shooting but also because the committee has a "plate full of work" on its hands.

The committee's top priorities are to find a way to communicate to students more effectively during an emergency situation and training more faculty and staff with crisis specialties, Obregon said. This agenda is under serious consideration.

One possible avenue of communicating with students during an emergency is a text message based system. This service would send text messages to students who may be in harm's way during an emergency.

The Student Government Association is campaigning to implement a text based advertising system that can be utilized to alert students to emergencies. The system, Mobile Campus, already has been implemented at University of Texas but has come under criticism for its ad-heavy approach.

The Crisis Management Team will consider all options when deciding on a way to quickly inform students of emergencies, according to Obregon. These considerations, once decided upon, will need to be finalized by the Board of Trustees.

"When a tragedy strikes, it becomes a good time to reevaluate policies and procedures to respond to a crisis," Obregon said.