Two shots rang out.
That’s all it took for 20-year-old Asia McGowan to be fatally shot on’ April 10, 2009 at Henry Ford Community College in Michigan by fellow classmate Anthony Powell, 28, according to an article on CNN.com. The school was put on emergency lockdown, but by the time police found their bodies, it was too late.
Such incidents have also occurred at other colleges and high schools across the United States, such as Virginia Tech and Columbine. But despite these incidents, many Fairfield students say that they feel safe on campus.
That apparent safety was recognized last semester when Fairfield’s Department of Public Safety won the Jeanne Clery 2008 Campus Safety Award for its various programs, including education and prevention as well as emergency response.
Fairfield University was the only recipient this year. ‘That was a big deal for us,’ said associate director of Public Safety Frank Ficko, who says that the key to making sure the campus is safe is constant reviews and updates of current emergency plans.
The Fairfield University Emergency Notification System ‘Connect-Ed’, also known as Stag Alert, will immediately go into effect, notifying students with instructions on what to do.
By sending students and faculty e-mails, text messages and phone calls, it ‘distributes emergency notifications without delay in situations where a clear and active threat or emergency exists that impacts the community and where it is recommended that the recipients take some form of action in response to the active threat or emergency,’ according to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy.
Although Fairfield is a relatively safe campus, if there was an active shooter on campus, Public Safety’s Rapid Response Plan would go into effect. When escape from a dangerous situation is not possible, students and faculty are advised to remain quiet and stay hidden while listening to the directions of the officers on the scene.
Public Safety’s current emergency plan is the result of an incident that occurred on campus back in 2002. On Feb. 12 of that year, 28 people were held hostage in Canisius room 103 by a recent University graduate, Patrick Arbelo.
Arbelo, a 2001 graduate, walked into Religious Studies Professor Elizabeth Dreyer’s religious studies class carrying a box he claimed contained a bomb.
Although he was charged with 28 counts of kidnapping, he was found ‘not guilty’ by reason of insanity. Arbelo was admitted into a psychiatric ward in 2003 and was released this past February.
‘The problem with the hostage crisis was that students did not know what was going on,’ said Ficko. ‘There was a lack of communication.’ He recounted that it took several minutes for officers and students to know what exactly was going on.
After the event, the FBI wanted Fairfield to change its plans in dealing with an emergency situation, resulting in the Three-Phase Renovation Public Safety installed and is still fine-tuning to this day.
‘I think that if there were an emergency on campus that Public Safety is as prepared as they can be and I trust them to keep me safe,’ said Dennis Durkin ’11. ‘I am sure that they will inform us on what we need to do.’
‘I actually feel safe on this campus,’ said Jason Maloney ’11. ‘Public safety makes their presence known.’
From the 17 Code Blue Phones located in various locations on campus to the 24/7 patrol cars driving around, Public Safety is not that hard to reach.
‘Being a girl on campus I feel well protected,’ said Brittany Martin ’11. ‘I have never felt that I have been put in a threatening situation, but if something were to happen I know Public Safety would get involved.’
These feelings of safety come despite the 58 cases of larceny/theft, 26 burglaries and five aggravated assaults reported for the 2007-08 school year.
‘Public safety is usually seen as negative by the students on campus,’ said Ficko. ‘But at the end of the day the question is, during their [students’] time on campus, do they feel safe?
I feel that the majority of students will answer ‘yes’ to this question,’ he said.
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