Danielle Natalie, a student at the University of South Florida, was walking to class when she received a text alert about a suspect with a gun on campus.
“I was on my way to a chemistry exam, which was across the street from the shooting, and it had not been canceled,” said Natalie, a USF Biology major with a minor in psychology.
According to Fox 13 News, it started on Sept. 20 just after 1:30 p.m. when a man, possibly carrying a gun, was reported jumping a fence between the Shriner’s Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center.
It was about 10 to 20 minutes after this, that Natalie received the text alert.
“I think that it was as effective as it could be, although it’d be awesome if we had some sort of warning that’s visible while walking around campus, for the people that don’t have cell phones to warn them or who aren’t signed up for the text service,” Natalie said.
This wasn’t the first time that Natalie received a text concerning an issue on campus. A few weeks ago there were incidents of rape that happened on the USF campus, and she was alerted of each of them.
Another safety precaution put in place at USF is the Blue Light Alarm System. There are areas where students can pick up the phone and immediately call security.
“There are blue lights all over campus within maybe 50 feet of each other, so if I ever ran into trouble I could use my phone or one of those,” Natalie said.
On the UT campus there are many programs that have been installed to protect students and provide them a safe learning environment.
UT security has been an ongoing concern among students due to the fact that the campus is right by downtown Tampa.
GraceMarie Schian, a freshman and undecided major at UT, feels that the openness of the campus to the public is a big concern.
“Many of the buildings on campus are easily accessible to outsiders,” Schian said. “Also, for the buildings that do require a scan in, people could easily walk in right behind someone.”
Like the Blue Light Alarm System on the USF campus, there are many such stations throughout the UT campus as well, that include 911 emergency call boxes to aid students in case of an emergency.
Within the UT’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for 2013, are the procedures and steps taken in the instance of a similar emergency to USF’s.
The report was compiled by UT Director of Safety, Kevin Howell, as well as other members of the UT Campus Safety team.
According to this report, UT must have confirmation of an emergency, a determination of the affected population, and the establishment of incident details, which will initiate the overall notification system.
During this process of confirmation, Emergency Action Plans will begin and can result in a campus-wide evacuation.
UT emergency notifications include SMART emergency text messages, text to voice classroom messages, global email web alerts, all types of social media updates, and many others.
Schian has only received one of the recent text alert tests that the school has been performing through the Spartan Mobile Alert System, while other students have received more. However, there are certain measures that do make Schian feel secure on campus.
Schian also views the laser team as a key asset to students who are walking around at night on campus and don’t feel safe. She also approves of the addition of the new call box that has recently been installed next to West Parking Garage.
On an open university like Tampa it requires an in detail knowledge of the physical environment of the campus, according to Dr. Linda Devine, the Vice President for Operations and Planning here at UT.
“At UT, we have a Campus Safety Committee that meets three times a year; an Emergency Communications Group that meets every other week; a Night Operations Group that meets three times a year,” said Devine.
“I would also say that developing and maintaining relationships with area agencies, such as the Tampa Police Department, Sheriff’s Office, and the Tampa Fire Department, is an important part to preparedness,” Devine continued.
According to the 2013 report, there have been 10 illegal weapon referrals and arrests in the past three years, here at UT.
UT’s Students of Concern program is also in place if there is a need to “identify students in our community who appear to be troubled or troubling and to intervene before the student reaches a crisis level,” according to the Campus Safety and Security Brochure.
Despite wthe recent incidents at USF, Natalie isn’t overly concerned about her safety on campus.
“Campus security are all over campus and even at night there are usually students walking around,” Natalie said. “I’ve walked by myself at night and felt safe on most of [campus], except for the occasional path that doesn’t have as much light.”
Students agree that security is a big concern on many college campuses, and it is important that each student feel safe and secure, especially on an open campus like the University of Tampa.
“Security should be the number one priority at the University of Tampa,” said Robin Manarik, a
freshman and undecided major at UT.
Jesse Long can be reached at jesse.long@spartans.ut.edu