Goshen News, Goshen, IN

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April 19, 2007

Goshen College has crisis plan

By JOHN KLINE

In the wake of the shooting incident at Virginia Tech University, Goshen College officials are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure that all bases are covered regarding campus security and preparedness.

“Goshen College has had a crisis management plan for many years,” said Richard Aguirre, director of public relations for Goshen College. “It was updated in 2005, and it was updated again in 2006.”

The plan covers a wide range of possible campus emergencies, Aguirre said, including everything from plans for locking down the campus to dealing with bomb threats, weapon assaults, terrorist attacks and potential hostage situations.

“And it goes not only into who would be notified, but how we would communicate with the surrounding community, the news media, parents of students, and the staff and their families,” Aguirre said. “This is a plan that is reviewed every couple of months — usually every semester — and a lot of us look at it even more frequently than that, especially when something like this happens.”

Aguirre indicated the college is also planning on holding an exercise on May 1 looking at security issues and scenarios that could affect the campus in the future.

As for actual security on campus, Aguirre indicated that the campus maintains a working relationship with both campus security officers as well as members of local law enforcement.

“We have campus security officers on duty at all times, but — just like most campuses of this size — our main security is provided by local law enforcement,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre indicated the college’s relationship with the Goshen Police Department has been solid over the past few years, noting that he is consistently impressed with the response time of the department in emergency situations.

“Having seen when there is something like a fire alarm on campus, the speed at which they get here is amazing,” Aguirre said. “We have great confidence in our local law enforcement.”

Representatives of the Goshen Police Department are also quick to add that communication between their department and the college has grown in recent years.

“For the last several years, the college and the Goshen Police Department have worked very well together in any situation that has come up, which thankfully isn’t many at that college,” said Joseph Brown, adjutant with the Goshen Police Department.

As for how the department would respond to a shooting situation at the college, Brown noted that it would really be no different than any other security situation encountered in the area.

“We would respond to the Goshen College campus in the same way we would to anyone who had an active shooter situation,” Brown said. “We have trained in the past in responding to active shooter situations, and we have training scheduled for later this year.”

Brown said the emergency response team trains regularly for various security situations, but noted that it is not just the emergency response team that trains, it is the entire department.

“This is because first responders aren’t always members of the emergency response team,” Brown said.

Brown indicated the department’s emergency response team maintains a plan on all local schools, and has held recent discussions with Goshen College representatives regarding their specific plan.

“The discussions have happened with the college,” Brown said. “We do have the crisis management plan for Goshen College in place, and our emergency response team does have all of that information.”

As for how students at the college are responding to the shooting incident, Aguirre said that outpourings of prayer and reflection are widespread across the campus.

“Our first thoughts of course here at Goshen College are prayers — prayers for friends, family and the community both here and in Virginia,” Aguirre said. “There are some students at the college who have organized an effort in the Student Union where the students are going to be signing cards of prayer and support for the students at Virginia Tech, and those will then be sent on to the students.

“I think it’s important that people know that colleges and universities do understand the precious gift that we have — the ability to educate children and adults — and that’s a responsibility we take seriously,” Aguirre said.

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