In the days following the horrendous events that occurred on Monday morning at Virginia Tech, we have been bombarded with information from every media outlet possible. Network news channels, both local and national, newspapers, radio stations, everyone is talking about the killing spree that occurred on that fateful morning.
This entire controversy has raised alarms about everything from gun control issues (the Australian prime minister has condemned our easy-going “gun culture” saying it is a negative force in society) to security on the campus (It took Virginia Tech officials two hours to e-mail students a warning about the shooter and by then he’d already killed two people in the dormitory and the second shooting had already begun. The fact that it took so long to reach students has caused considerable outrage from the likes of Nancy Grace and Bill O’Reilly, among others.)
It makes us wonder: How safe is our school? Cal State Long Beach is another open campus. There are no big brass gates like at Harvard and anyone can walk in and out. That’s not to say we’re unsafe. Campus police are constantly on patrol, but we’re obviously not safe enough.
Have we already forgotten the multiple rape and sexual assault cases our school faced this past year?
Obviously, we still have some issues to deal with as far as campus safety. What other methods could our school use to avoid fatal situations like that which occurred at Virginia Tech?
Well, according to an April 17 article in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, many other universities across the nation have upped their security since the attack. Here are just a few examples of what can be done to protect thousands of innocent lives.
According to the article, UC Berkeley has a siren on an outdoor public address system which is followed by instructions, if such a situation occurred.
The University of Cincinnati has its public address system audible indoors. The University of Florida is coordinating with local police to place automatic calls to campus telephones with messages that will also come with alerts on pertinent Floridian issues like hurricanes or tornadoes.
Virginia Tech had actually been in the midst of working on such a project, which would send emergency alerts to students via text messages. But obviously, this wasn’t available at the crucial time it needed to be.
It is unfair to blame the university security for this tragedy. They obviously tried their hardest to keep the students safe, and they were unprepared for such a horrific incident to occur. It is not right to point the finger at whoever is closest. In the end, it is this psychologically-damaged student who is to blame.
This tragedy has definitely made us all a lot more aware of our own campus and how safe we feel walking around it, or even sitting in a classroom. There is no way to predict such a random act of violence, and there is no way to prepare, other than to always check your cell phone and e-mail before going to class.
Let’s come up with a new security system for CSULB, and let’s hope none of us ever have to go through something this traumatic again.
