Deadly Virginia Tech shootings spur $20K investment
BY SEUNG MIN KIM
The Newark Star-Ledger
NEWARK, N.J. -- Spurred by April’s deadly shootings at Virginia Tech, Raritan Valley Community College officials tightened security and made emergency alert systems speedier, in time for students to return to campus yesterday and start the fall semester.
In case of an emergency, the new alert system will notify all faculty, staff and students using computers plugged into the college’s network with a pop-up message at the bottom of the monitor. The software for the computer-based programs - which sends alerts “almost instantaneously” - cost around $20,000 and was installed over the summer, said John Trojan, the school’s vice president of finance and facilities.
“Going back well over a year, we were not so satisfied with how quickly we could communicate with the population of the campus,” Trojan said.
But college officials ultimately are focused on adding multiple layers of communication to use during emergencies. They currently are investigating how to install a public announcement system throughout the 240-acre campus, located in the North Branch section of Branchburg, to contact those who are not tapped into the college’s network.
This audio system would emit a siren blast or bells when an emergency occurs, and could have the ability to isolate alerts, Trojan said. For example, if a threatening person was detected in one of the college’s 12 buildings, notifications could be sent to the other 11.
“We don’t think it’s necessarily very expensive, but we want to get the right equipment so it lasts for a while,” Trojan said.
He added that the school also is arranging a drill at the school with the Somerset County Sheriff’s department so those on campus can practice what to do if a threatening person is near.
The college introduced a text message-based alert system in January, but that method can only distribute notifications to up to 500 people whose cell phone numbers are registered with the school, Trojan said. A consortium of New Jersey public colleges is facing similar issues, and are in talks with phone companies to expand the system’s capacity.
Campus security guards don’t carry guns, but roughly nine law enforcement officers who teach at the school’s police academy are armed at all times and are cued into the college’s response system in case of an emergency, Trojan said.
Updated security measures are also a feature at the new West Building, a 44,500-square-foot structure housing primarily the computer science department that opened yesterday and boasts 17 classrooms and a multimedia laboratory.
At the three-story building, which is now the largest classroom facility on campus, officials have stationed about 40 cameras around the facility, each costing $200. Also, doors at the West building can be automatically locked from a remote location, officials said.
Security measures aside, the new technology offered at the $15 million facility, bolstered by the addition of 400 new Dell computers and several software programs, will help improve educational and training opportunities for the 1,151 students who enrolled in computer science courses at RVCC as of yesterday, officials said.
“We’re one step ahead of just about anybody,” said John Sullivan, chairman of the computer science department. “It’s a lot more work for us, but students enter the job market ahead of everybody and not behind anyone.”
Meanwhile, the campus went smoke-free on Aug. 27, expanding a policy that banned people from lighting up inside college buildings but allowed it in designated outdoor areas. Administrators have decided not to impose financial penalties on those who violate the policy, instead relying on security guards, students and faculty to police themselves and others, Trojan said.
In January, trustees bumped up tuition for this academic year to $87 per credit, which is $3 more than the previous year. But the college will help defray expenses for residents of Somerset or Hunterdon counties who are spouses or children of military members who have died in Afghanistan or Iraq by offering them free tuition, officials announced earlier this week.
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