Thanks to congressional action—and new notification technology—now nearly every college will be working toward common security standards and keeping students informed.

On Feb. 14, a former graduate student of Northern Illinois University entered a large lecture hall and opened fire on students in a class with a shotgun, then a handgun. He shot 22 people, killing five. Then he shot himself.

Within minutes, campus police responded. In a short time, they had sent out an alert via the college’s website, e-mail and voice mail, as well as alerting the news media and setting off alarms.

Despite the tragedy, the university handled the emergency response appropriately, according to experts, deploying first responders rapidly and effectively alerting students and faculty.

In August, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) signed a law requiring campus police forces to drill for such situations and quickly end such threats. It will take effect on Jan. 1.

Federal response

On Aug. 14, President Bush signed into law the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act—the first reauthorization in nearly 10 years. The law contains provisions that require college campuses to step up security measures if they receive federal funding—which applies to nearly every institute of higher learning in the United States since most participate in federal student loan programs.

The law requires educational institutions to establish emergency response and evacuation procedures if they do not yet have them, including means to “immediately notify the campus community” of any threat occurring on campus, Jane Glickman, a spokesperson for the US Department of Education (DoEd), told HSToday. Campuses also are going to be required to test their emergency response and evacuation procedures annually.

The law expands reporting requirements for institutions of higher education as well, compelling them to include more incidents under “hate crimes” in their updates to federal authorities. Colleges and universities must produce a fire safety report each year and send it to the Secretary of Education to detail fire safety practices at their schools and to report all fire incidents that occurred there in the past year. Institutions also must report drug violations and develop missing persons procedures.

These provisions modify the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, incorporated into the Higher Education Act by Congress in 1990 to promote campus security standards under federal law. Jeanne Clery was a 19-year-old student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania when she was raped and murdered in her dormitory room in 1986.

Her parents, Howard and Connie Clery, were so outraged that the university underreported violent crimes on campus that they founded the non-profit Security On Campus Inc., based in King of Prussia, Pa., to lobby for federal campus security standards.

Clery Act

“A lot is still shaking out” on what the new Clery Act provisions will require campuses to do, Jonathan Kassa, executive director of Security On Campus, told HSToday.

Security On Campus made contributions to the new campus security laws, and Kassa was particularly proud of a provision for a model memorandum of understanding that schools should negotiate with outside law enforcement agencies before crises occur.

“This follows through on one of the goals of the Clery Act, which is that parents and students—as well as faculty or anyone visiting the campus—should have the ability to look at the data to see if those arrangements are in place ahead of time at their fingertips, just as they should know what the crime statistics are and that there should be an honest representation of those crime statistics,” Kassa explained.

Particularly important is language in the Act requiring college campuses to “immediately notify” students of any developing situation that threatens their health and safety, Kassa noted.

In October, DoEd officials began meeting with various college organizations and other groups to begin formulating a federal rule implementing the new provisions of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act, including the campus security provisions.

“It’s going to be interesting to see in the negotiated rulemaking what Congress really meant by that,” Kassa said. “That’s an important aspect to highlight because it places significance on not just a timely warning but on broadcasting information as soon as possible when something threatening like a tornado or an active shooter requires law enforcement to act.”

To fulfill that requirement, Security On Campus is advising school administrators to send alerts to students and faculty via multiple modes—just as Northern Illinois University did—to avoid the failure of a single system notifying everyone of a threat.

As an advocacy organization for students and their families, Security On Campus has developed other guidelines for school administrators, as well. Security experts at the nonprofit organization conduct trainings on Clery Act requirements and best practices for college administrators. Initially, the training was provided through a grant from the Department of Justice. To date, more than 1,500 college and university administrators have attended training sessions with the organization, which offers its next class in November at the University of Kentucky.