College security under review
Sacramento Bee 5/3/07
But the officials said experience with other school shootings -- such as the 1999 incident at Columbine High School in Colorado -- led them to take measures to prevent campus violence even before the April 16 incident in Virginia.
"We have substantial processes in place," Robert Dynes, president of the University of California, told the Senate Education Committee at a special hearing convened to review campus security. "It doesn't mean we can't improve them."
Since the attack in Virginia, when a mentally ill student killed 32 people before turning a gun on himself, the University of California has convened a task force to review security proceedings, Dynes said.
Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, said the state universities were performing terrorism drills even before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The universities have had a plan for reacting to shooting incidents since even before Columbine, he said.
Reed, Dynes and other university officials said they would be able to improve campus security if some federal and state privacy statutes were changed to allow schools to have access to more information about students.
Because of federal privacy protections, universities have trouble getting information about students who have been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment, Reed said.
"This is maybe my worst nightmare," he said.
He recalled a recent incident at a California State University campus, where a troubled student was sent to seek mental health treatment. The university could not find out details on his release, Reed said, and later suspended him for the rest of the year to protect other students on campus.
Reed said universities sometimes also have trouble getting students to give them their e-mail and cellular phone information so they can be contacted in an emergency.
Campus officials described various methods for alerting students and staff members about emergencies. Some schools have public-address systems. Others plan to use campus radio and television stations for emergency alerts, they said.
Sen. Jack Scott, an Altadena Democrat who chairs the committee, said he was "reassured" by school officials' testimony that they had been reviewing campus safety.
Scott's committee heard from school officials at all levels, ranging from kindergarten through college. Officials representing all of those levels said they could use more funds to provide mental health services to students.
Sandy Clifton-Bacon, former president of the Association of California School Administrators, said the need has been growing, among both students and parents.
"We've seen an increase in hostile behaviors," she said. "We have more and more angry kids and parents than I've witnessed in my years in education."