La Voz

In the aftermath of the shootings last Monday at Virginia Tech, De Anza College students and faculty members found themselves wondering how prepared their college would be to deal with such an incident.

Despite the presence of the Virginia Tech police, with over 30 active officers and two detectives, and the immediate responses of local police departments and SWAT teams, Cho Seung Hui was able to kill 32 people at two locations on the VT campus during the 3-hour long ordeal.

Many have suggested the size of the college, the unpredictability of such incidents, and the chaos they often involve contributed to the scale of the tragedy.

At De Anza, the administrator tasked with answering these formidable challenges is Jeanine Hawk, VP of Finance and College Services and Director of Emergency Operations. "De Anza College has a formalized plan to respond to such attacks, and we actually convened yesterday to review it," said Hawk Wednesday. "We first activate our crisis action team and open an emergency operations center. This team then decides whether to enact what is called a SIMS protocol - a procedure for emergency management that we've adopted."

In an e-mail addressed to faculty, De Anza President Brian Murphy said, "I am confident that at De Anza, we are prepared to act quickly, decisively and effectively for the safety of all our students, faculty and staff." Murphy went on to discuss a meeting with the Crisis Action Team and the drills "we must undergo" to ensure emergency preparedness.

Incidents such as the Columbine shootings and the 2001 bomb scare at De Anza led the college to hire a security consultant to develop the procedures, as well as create the Foothill-De Anza Police Department.

"We're a far sight better than we were in 1999," said District Police Chief Ron Levine. "The awareness level has come up considerably." The crisis team at De Anza consists of senior administrators, district police representatives, the college's director of marketing, and its director of college services.

"The first thing we do is immediately call 911 and get the local police involved. From there, the challenge is to take what information you have, even if it's incomplete, and give a response as quickly as possible," said Hawk.

To build its preparedness, the team undergoes annual drills, including a full scenario two years ago that involved instructors, as well. Hawk's advice to students was "to follow instructions, whether from an administrator, a policemen or a teacher."

More information can be found at www.deanza.edu/emergency.

Article Tools