Report Looks to Address Range of Safety Issues at NOVA

Home » Alexandria, Annandale, Featured, Loudoun, Manassas, Medical Education Campus, On Campus, Woodbridge

15 June 2010 No Comment

Update:
Shortly after this story was published NOVA added a copy of the report to their website. It can viewed in two parts here and here.

Last December’s shooting at the Woodbridge campus opened many concerns on safety issues at NOVA. To address those questions and provide ideas for a safer environment for students, faculty and staff, NOVA president Robert Templin created the Presidential Commission on Safety and Security. The commission was charged with creating a report on the state of safety and security.

Despite a special web page detailing the creation of the commission, neither the final report nor a summary of its findings, are publicly available on NOVA’s web site. However, the NOVA Fortnightly was able to obtain the report through a Freedom of Information Act request.

While the report reiterated earlier findings such as untimely alerts immediately after the Woodbridge incident, it also revealed major security issues including comments that alleged weapons are routinely on some campuses and a breakdown in monitoring potentially disturbed students.

New details also emerged as to some of the failings that happened in the Woodbridge incident. Only nine of the 45 cameras at the Woodbridge campus were operational. The report attributed this to a system that regularly crashes and is in need of frequent repair. Police communications were also hindered because their radio system is unable to provide campus-to-campus communication.

But the college is already correcting some issues. For instance new locks are being installed at all campuses that will allow for more secure sheltering-in-place. This project is due to be completed in mid-July. The Facilities Department is also installing a public address alert system at the Manassas campus.

One of the problems raised in earlier reports has been a complicated chain of communications when college officials attempted to disseminate information and coordinate a response. To partially remedy this, the report suggested that a centralized dispatch center be set up.

Such a dispatch center would have several functions and would rectify many issues NOVA has been warned of since at least 2007. For instance, evacuating the Woodbridge campus as emergency responders searched for bombs and active shooters was complicated because keys and floor plans were in the emergency area, rendering them inaccessible. In the future, the dispatch center could serve as a repository for such materials.

The dispatch center would also be responsible for more routine duties such as monitoring video systems.

The commission also collected feedback via an online survey. Both students and faculty raised concerns on a number of safety issues.

At least four comments alleged that there are deadly weapons routinely on the Alexandria campus. Others felt threatened in some of the smaller buildings at that campus including the Engineering and Tyler buildings. Other comments suggested officers should be stationed at those buildings – especially at times when they are near empty. And yet others felt the large, rowdy crowds that gather outside the cafeteria pose a safety risk.

At the Annandale campus, faculty felt that floor wardens lacked proper training in such areas as CPR, defibrillator use and emergency coordination. They also noted an issue of poor communication during a fire drill when the “all clear” signal was sent to phones inside the buildings.

At Manassas, floor wardens need a budget to purchase hand held radios. The report also noted a pressing need for a working emergency alert system on campus.

Improvement could be used for dealing with student behavior issues, according to the report. One of the public replies to a question asking what the most important safety issue was said, “Feeling safe about giving students the grade they earn.”

One comment felt the dean of students at the Annandale campus does not “really care about what you have to say when you’ve been harassed.” Another comment urged NOVA to “hire a dean of students who is qualified to advise faculty what to do about troubled students.”

The Annandale Campus Council – a group of faculty and instructors – further reported they had a “great concern for the lack of consequences for students who misbehave.”

However the criticisms of student behavior monitoring were not just through public feedback. The report noted complications in the relationship between the CARE team, which is responsible for students with “concerning behaviors,” and the dean of students, who also deals with student behavior issues.

The report urged that the roles for those dealing with “concerning behavior” be clearly defined. It also noted the need for case management when dealing with reports of troubled students.

The report included feedback from a variety of sources including online polls, which solicited feedback from the NOVA community. Students were also represented on the commission by Arthur Tamayo, the president of the Woodbridge student government association. Other members of the commission included Michael Turner, the Woodbridge campus dean of students, and Sam Hill, the provost of the Woodbridge campus.