Report Finds Massachusetts Colleges Lacking Effort For Security

Jul 1, 2008 4:21 PM

Massachusetts public colleges and universities have been slow to adopt widely accepted security practices since last year's Virginia Tech massacre, in many cases failing to apply basic measures, according to a critical report that calls for sweeping changes across the state system to avert campus violence.

The report, compiled by a team of specialists and presented to the state Board of Higher Education recently, cited numerous safety deficiencies across the state system and urged the 29 public colleges to take immediate steps to rectify them.

According to the Boston Globe, the report found that most state colleges do not use security cameras, have gun-carrying police officers or train faculty and staff to recognize troubled students and employees. Only a handful have conducted vulnerability assessments, and one-third do not have arrangements with local law enforcement to respond to emergencies.

"Having a threat assessment team is an absolute no-brainer, and it could be done tomorrow," says Daniel O'Neill, an author of the report and president of Applied Risk Management, a security consultant. "That single recommendation would save the greatest amount of lives."

Since the Virginia Tech shootings, Massachusetts public colleges, as well as their private counterparts, have taken a hard look at emergency policies and in many cases made sweeping changes. All state schools now have mass notification systems that included e-mail, text-messaging, and Web alerts, and some have received training from the FBI for interpreting violent writings.

Still, the report says, colleges must take further steps to prepare for emergencies and to reach out to troubled students.

The 114-page study was undertaken after the Virginia Tech shootings April 2007. The study found that most schools lack formal procedures for handling students who seem capable of violence and do not submit writing with violent images to a forensic specialist for review.

Other authors of the report said formal, preventive policies would help colleges spot warning signs and resolve situations before they surface. Nearly all public colleges in Massachusetts reported a greater number of students with severe mental illness in recent years, but just more than half provide specialized mental health services, the report found.

The study recommended that colleges train faculty, staff and students to recognize signs of mental illness and expand campus mental health services. These steps would also help students with psychiatric problems who are not prone to violence, says the authors of the report.

The state Board of Higher Education praised the report and said it would press colleges to act quickly on the recommendations. Board member Nancy Harrington, former president of Salem State College, says she supported mandated statewide policies, adding that inaction is too risky.

"This is an enormously dangerous issue," she told the Boston Globe. "It's like holding a firecracker and waiting for it to explode."

The authors of the report pointed out, however, that serious violence on campuses is extremely rare and that colleges must balance security interests with privacy rights and individual freedoms. There has been just one homicide since 2000 on a state public campus.

Among policies colleges have adopted, 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. UMass-Amherst has also installed 500 surveillance cameras on campus.

Bridgewater State College has implemented a comprehensive emergency notification program and has 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.

Only eight state campuses currently arm their security officers, and the consultants urged more to follow their lead.

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