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Oregon schools are taking closer looks at security
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND (AP) - Once a year, during winter term, the dormitory minders at Oregon State called resident advisers are required to ask a series of questions of their charges. It's aimed at gauging how well dorm residents are doing at college - socially and academically.
Because 75 percent of the residents are freshmen, the questions also look at how their transition from home to school has been going.
The RAs are supposed to keep a log, possibly for referrals to counselors.
That's one of the procedures Oregon campus officials point to after the carnage Monday at Virginia Tech left college and security officials across the country wondering how to protect against the sort of loner blamed for the Virginia shootings.
“It concerns me,” Lt. Phil Zerzan of the Oregon State Police told the Corvallis Gazette-Times. “I think about it, plan for it and prepare for it.”
Every few years, State Police SWAT members do tactical training on the Oregon State campus along with other law enforcement agencies - the most recent exercise this summer.
Zerzan said he's waiting for full details from the Blacksburg, Va., shooting to see what lessons might be applied to Oregon State's campus safety plan, much as other Oregon officials are.
He was one of the Oregon officers who responded in May 1998 to Thurston High School in Springfield, where freshman Kip Kinkel, after killing his parents at home, drove to the school and opened fire, killing two students and wounding 25.
Violence is rare on Oregon college campuses, but not unheard of.
On Nov. 12, 1984, a sniper perched on the roof of Autzen Stadium killed former Olympic sprinter Christopher Brathwaite, 35, as he worked out on a nearby jogging path. The gunman also wounded University of Oregon wrestler Rick O'Shea, then 22.
The shooter, 19-year-old Michael Evan Feher - his face blackened “as though ready to go to war,” police said at the time - turned his high-powered rifle on himself and took his own life as the SWAT team prepared to move in.
This year, the university is revising its emergency preparedness plan, thanks in part to the 2008 Olympic Trials, which will take place on campus and around the city, said Frances Dyke, vice president for finance and administration at the UO. Also being closely examined are campus communications systems, she said.
At Oregon State, Cindy Empey, director of residential life for University Housing and Dining Services, said the Virginia Tech shootings have caused her to rethink OSU's approach to student safety.
She said residence halls are locked 24 hours a day, and only student residents and staff are supposed to have access. But “sometimes random people do wander in,” Empey said.
Because 75 percent of the residents are freshmen, the questions also look at how their transition from home to school has been going.
The RAs are supposed to keep a log, possibly for referrals to counselors.
That's one of the procedures Oregon campus officials point to after the carnage Monday at Virginia Tech left college and security officials across the country wondering how to protect against the sort of loner blamed for the Virginia shootings.
“It concerns me,” Lt. Phil Zerzan of the Oregon State Police told the Corvallis Gazette-Times. “I think about it, plan for it and prepare for it.”
Every few years, State Police SWAT members do tactical training on the Oregon State campus along with other law enforcement agencies - the most recent exercise this summer.
Zerzan said he's waiting for full details from the Blacksburg, Va., shooting to see what lessons might be applied to Oregon State's campus safety plan, much as other Oregon officials are.
He was one of the Oregon officers who responded in May 1998 to Thurston High School in Springfield, where freshman Kip Kinkel, after killing his parents at home, drove to the school and opened fire, killing two students and wounding 25.
Violence is rare on Oregon college campuses, but not unheard of.
On Nov. 12, 1984, a sniper perched on the roof of Autzen Stadium killed former Olympic sprinter Christopher Brathwaite, 35, as he worked out on a nearby jogging path. The gunman also wounded University of Oregon wrestler Rick O'Shea, then 22.
The shooter, 19-year-old Michael Evan Feher - his face blackened “as though ready to go to war,” police said at the time - turned his high-powered rifle on himself and took his own life as the SWAT team prepared to move in.
This year, the university is revising its emergency preparedness plan, thanks in part to the 2008 Olympic Trials, which will take place on campus and around the city, said Frances Dyke, vice president for finance and administration at the UO. Also being closely examined are campus communications systems, she said.
At Oregon State, Cindy Empey, director of residential life for University Housing and Dining Services, said the Virginia Tech shootings have caused her to rethink OSU's approach to student safety.
She said residence halls are locked 24 hours a day, and only student residents and staff are supposed to have access. But “sometimes random people do wander in,” Empey said.
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