Heightened security urged for Mass. collegesBy Peter Schworm, Boston.com 1 Most Massachusetts public colleges and universities do not use security cameras, do not have gun-carrying police forces, and do not train faculty and staff to recognize troubled students and employees, according to a critical report that calls for aggressive changes across the state system to prevent campus violence. The report, presented to the state Board of Higher Education today, also found that few schools have conducted a vulnerability assessment of their campus and one-third of them do not have a mutual-aid agreement with local law enforcement to respond to emergencies. The 114-page study, undertaken in the wake of last year's Virginia Tech massacre, said the colleges have not done enough to address security concerns. It urged all 29 Massachusetts public colleges and universities to adopt a range of recommendations, including: creating emergency-response plans and notification systems; establishing a multi-disciplinary team to respond to threats and dangerous behaviors; and training faculty, staff, and students to recognize signs of mental illness. The number of college students across the country with severe mental illness has steadily increased in recent years. Colleges should also conduct vulnerability assessments at least once a year and should offer specialized mental health services for issues such as substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders, it said. Just over half of the schools currently provide specialized mental health services. "Though the risk of a school shooting is very small, it is also very real and schools must be prepared for the event," the report said. Since the Virginia Tech shootings, Massachusetts colleges have taken a hard look at their emergency policies. All have implemented mass notification systems that include e-mail, text-messaging, and Web alerts. Some of the colleges have received training from the FBI for interpreting violent writings. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has created a group of administrators, faculty, and police that meets weekly to discuss individuals who have exhibited threatening or potentially violent behavior, and has installed 500 surveillance cameras on campus. Bridgewater State College has implemented a comprehensive emergency notification program, and armed police vehicles with assault rifles and shotguns. Salem State College has installed 100 emergency call stations, and Mount Wachusett Community College is moving toward arming all campus officers. But the report found that much work remains to be done. Despite pervasive coverage of mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, "the risk of serious violence on campus is remarkably low, particularly in its most extreme form," the report stated. "Although the chances of serious violence may be remote, the potential consequences can be devastating and long-lasting. ... Thus, it is prudent and imperative that colleges take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of students as well as faculty and other employees," it said. There have been 13 fatal mass shootings on US college campuses since 1990. Of those, eight were perpetrated by graduate students, the report noted, calling for a focus on "graduate student disgruntlement." With that in mind, the consultants recommended that colleges directly ask graduate school applicants about unusual academic histories, criminal records, and disciplinary actions. Colleges should evaluate alarming writings and drawings for potential threat and adopt formal procedures for handling students who seem capable of violence. The study found that more than 80 percent of the schools do not submit potentially violent writings and drawings to a forensic specialist for review. The gunman in the April 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, Cho Seung-Hui, had raised concerns with his disturbing writings for a creative writing class. The main contributors to the report were Applied Risk Management, a security consultant; James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist; Roger Depue, a behavioral scientist; and Elizabeth Englander, a psychology professor at Bridgewater State College.  [ad#post-1] |
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