Judith Schiebout, Faculty Senate member-at-large, said that if the University experiences a situation similar to the recent shooting at Northern Illinois University or Louisiana Technical College, she hopes that professors will know how “to try to do something to save a few lives.” “Though I don’t want a gun wielding person to shoot up anything, I’d frankly rather have him pick the Wal-Mart than a class of students because they’re our future,” Schiebout said. With violent crimes becoming more prevalent on college campuses nationwide, the Faculty Senate looked at options during a meeting Tuesday to make the University a frontrunner in safety developments. Many faculty voiced concerns that faculty members have not received adequate training on how to respond to emergency situations. Dottie Vaughn, senator, said she teaches in the Gym Auditorium and expressed concern that anyone, not just students, could access the auditorium during classes. “I am very concerned about my safety because there are no cameras looking at the students coming into the room,” she said. Schiebout, who said she was sure the University is taking the situation seriously, said the University should make training faculty a part of increased security measures because they are most likely to be in the crossfire if something like this should happen. “Individual faculty need to know what they need to do,” she said. Vaughn fears she would not be able to instruct students in an emergency situation. Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope suggested it might be “technically possible, at least in some classrooms, to use the audio-visual telephone” in an emergency situation. Faculty Senators, who recognized the advances in the recently implemented emergency text messaging system, agreed faculty members, instructed to dial 911 in an emergency, should bring their cell phones to class. A faculty senator present at the meeting expressed hope that the University could “take on the charge of developing [a security system] that we provide to the entire nation.” But Faculty Senate members said they hope for more efficient ways to notify authorities and discussed the possibility of a “safety lecture from the campus police.”
—-Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]