Wednesday's shooting at the University of Texas, Austin has highlighted the ever-expanding role that technology and social media are playing behind security and relaying information on college campuses.
At the time of the shooting - in which Colton Tooley, a 19-year-old mathematics major, opened fire on campus before killing himself - the campus had in place e-mail and text message alerts, a siren system, police department patrol car announcements, fire-panel systems and flat-screen televisions to spread safety information to the university.
"The university community there responded quickly and took action," said Kirby Felts, assistant director of the office of emergency preparedness at the University of Virginia. "Students also did what they were advised to do, like stay in place, close the door and wait for further instructions; it was well received."
In addition to official university alerts, students tweeted safety tips to each other.
An individual sent a 'tweet' @summermorgan, "Does anyone have any news about the shooter on UT campus? Sirens are going off and SWAT is here. I'm safe.Campus is on lockdown. Praying." Another individual, meanwhile, tweeted @sherrodharris, "If you are on Campus, don't move anywhere. Armed suspect near PCL, keep safe folks."
The University of Virginia also makes use of an emergency alert system that communicates via e-mail, text messaging, sirens, the public address system, and LCD and LED screens located in classrooms and buildings.
"The whole point of having so many different options is that people are at different places and have as many layers as possible so that at least one of them will work and get the message out," Felts said. "We try to rely on people to let other people around them know about the alert after they have received it, then taking whatever action they are instructed to do."
Felts emphasized how important it is to pay attention to the alert message and do what it instructs.
"It helps with the whole response and gets everything done without trouble," she said.
To increase student participation in the program, officials are considering changing U.Va. alerts from an opt-in program to an opt-out program. "Out of 20,000 subscribers possible, we're not even near 10,000," Felts said. "So switching to opt-out is definitely being talked about."
-compiled by Sofia Economopoulos
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