{"id":105227,"date":"2015-10-15T10:57:29","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T14:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=105227"},"modified":"2015-10-21T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T13:26:10","slug":"uconn-leaders-students-discuss-campus-safety-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/10\/uconn-leaders-students-discuss-campus-safety-preparations\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Leaders, Students Discuss Campus Safety Preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President<\/a>
President Susan Herbst speaks during a roundtable discussion on campus safety, emergency training, and mental health issues held at the School of Business board room on Oct. 14. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn students play a critical and much-appreciated role in helping ensure a safe, nurturing campus community as officials continuously refine the University\u2019s emergency response plans, participants were told at a forum this week.<\/p>\n

The roundtable, held Wednesday, comes in the wake of several shootings in recent weeks on college campuses nationwide. UConn President Susan Herbst and Police Chief Barbara O\u2019Connor both emphasized at the discussion that although UConn is a very safe campus, emergency planners are constantly working on prevention and response initiatives.<\/p>\n

\"Erin<\/a>
Erin Cox, an outreach coordinator and psychologist at Counseling and Mental Health Services, speaks during the roundtable. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several of those initiatives were outlined Wednesday at the event, which included about 40 students along with panelists Eleanor Daugherty, UConn\u2019s dean of students<\/a>; Erin Cox, a clinical psychologist from UConn Counseling and Mental Health Services<\/a>; and Sandra Chafouleas, associate dean and professor in the Neag School of Education.<\/p>\n

Herbst convened the roundtable to discuss UConn\u2019s preparation and prevention initiatives, to field questions and take suggestions about those measures, and to help assure students, their parents, UConn employees, and others in the community that the issues are being closely watched.<\/p>\n

\u201cCampuses have never been immune from horrific tragedies, but it feels as though these incidents are happening with increasing frequency,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cColleges and universities are places of learning, friendship, discovery, and innovation. To have the peace and security of a campus shattered by violence is abhorrent to us, and the specter of it is what keeps people like me and Chief O\u2019Connor up at night. At the same time, we can\u2019t and won\u2019t live our lives in fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn has a robust emergency preparedness, notification, and response system that includes text message alerts, a continuously updated Alert site (www.alert.uconn.edu<\/a>), frequent drills and emergency tests, and ongoing training for police officers, fire crews, and other emergency responders.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s Office of Emergency Management<\/a> also recently posted updated guidelines for the campus community on response to various potential emergencies, including what to do if an active shooter<\/a> is reported on campus, if informed to \u201cshelter in place<\/a>,\u201d and in other situations.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor told students in attendance at Wednesday\u2019s discussion that they also urge students to notify them if they notice anything unusual, such as a worrisome social media posting, a fellow student acting oddly, or other occurrences that raise their curiosity or concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prepare, we drill, we plan \u2013 all of those things are very important \u2013 but a lot of this is also about prevention,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cPeople say you can\u2019t predict these things and that\u2019s absolutely true, but it\u2019s not about predicting these things; it\u2019s about putting resources into preventing harm, and that\u2019s where students come in and can be really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panelists said they recognize that many students have a very active life on social media, and that it gives their generation a unique window to notice unusual behavior and help those individuals get help before they harm themselves and others.<\/p>\n

Cox said they also give similar guidance to professors, resident assistants, and others to watch for people who may be in crisis \u2013 those who have stopped leaving their room, who have disappeared from class, or who may be isolating themselves or displaying other warning signs.<\/p>\n

She said that people who come to Counseling and Mental Health Services can get more than therapy; the staff are also connected with offices throughout campus, and can help the students navigate through academic and other problems that may be contributing to their emotional difficulties.<\/p>\n

Daugherty agreed, saying part of the University\u2019s mission is to create an atmosphere where people feel safe enough to explore ideas outside of their comfort zone and learn from others with different backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my bottom line: How do we work together as an institution to provide a home for students that people desire and aspire to be at, and where they will experience things that are different? The last thing we want to do is to walk around in fear on our campus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo feel stressed at midterms or during busy times is a normal experience. But to feel alone on campus, or to feel as though you don\u2019t matter or aren\u2019t part of a greater community, is not something that should be happening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chafouleas, who has studied the issue as it pertains to children in kindergarten through 12th grade, agreed and said research finds that young people\u2019s mental well-being is enhanced when they are in an environment where they feel that others care about them, that they have someone to talk with, and that support is available when they need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The roundtable discussion, held Wednesday, comes in the wake of several shootings in recent weeks on college campuses nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":105229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[124],"class_list":["post-105227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 05:21:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105227"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105238,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105227\/revisions\/105238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/105229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105227"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=105227"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=105227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}