Students question decision not to use Connect-Ed

By Johanna Mitchell

When Santa Clara police searched on and around campus for a man who a witness said carried a gun on March 3, students questioned why the university's emergency alert system, Connect-Ed, was not used to notify students.

Less than a dozen administrators currently have the power to activate Connect-Ed, which sends out mass e-mails, text messages and phone calls in the event of an incident on campus that could potentially threaten the lives or well-being of the campus community. The person who has the responsibility of activating the Connect-Ed alert is dependent upon the day of the week, the time of day and the nature of the emergency.

Campus Safety and the Office of Student Life would not give the names or the exact number of those who have the ability to enact Connect-Ed.

In the case of the alleged gunman at a house party early on a Sunday morning, the decision was in the hands of Campus Safety. Early that same morning, Santa Clara police arrested two teens on suspicion of attempted robbery with a knife.

The use of the emergency alert system was discussed, said Beltran, but was dismissed for several reasons. Administrators weighed whether the message would have caused panic or compelled curious students to venture outdoors to watch events unfold, rather than stay out of harm's way.

In lieu of using Connect-Ed, Campus Safety notified community facilitators from each residence hall and instructed them to keep on-campus residents -- the largest concentration of students -- in their buildings and on the lookout for suspicious persons.

The rest of the campus community was notified the following day via e-mail.

In this particular situation, a deciding factor against the use of Connect-Ed was that neither a shooting nor a stabbing was confirmed in the nearly two-hour chain of events, said Beltran.

On the Associated Students' "Be Heard" campaign Web site, concerns were unanimous -- students who posted believed that it was better to be safe than sorry in such a situation.

One student said they would "forgive Santa Clara for erring on the side of caution and warning us about a potential threat," even if the threat turned out to be harmless. Another ended the post with a plea: "Please utilize Connect-Ed!"

Yet even if the system was activated, the 35 percent of the campus community that is not registered for Connect-Ed would not have been notified by the alert message.

Current figures from the Office of Student Life show 64.8 percent of the university community currently registered, which includes 4,001 graduate and undergraduate students, 727 staff members and 455 faculty members, out of nearly 8,000 campus members.

Though the numbers have risen by 18.5 percent since the beginning of the school year, "it would be ideal if that number were larger," said Vice Provost for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger.

Connect-Ed was implemented at Santa Clara shortly after the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech in which Seung-Hui Cho opened fire on students and faculty, killing 32 and wounding many others.

Virginia Tech administrators were openly criticized for waiting nearly two hours to notify the campus community by e-mail.

A report by the state review panel in August concluded that the toll could have been reduced if a stronger initial alert had been activated.

In the wake of the massacre, Santa Clara sought a proactive solution and quickly adopted Connect-Ed.

Earthquakes, severe weather conditions and confirmed shootings on or near campus are some examples of incidents that would merit the activation of a Connect-Ed alert, said Assistant Director of Campus Safety Phil Beltran.

But not every situation is as clear-cut, cautioned Beltran, such as the alleged gunman on March 3.

The day after the incident, Beltran and Director of Campus Safety Charlie Arrolla met to evaluate their response as part of an ongoing evaluation of the emergency response protocol, said Beltran.

If a similar situation occurs in the future, Beltran said, they may use Connect-Ed to test if its use would be valuable.

In the meantime, administrators continue to encourage all members of the campus community to register through eCampus.

"I feel like, unfortunately, there is a sense of, 'It won't happen here,' " said Rosenberger. "It's one of our biggest challenges."

Contact Johanna Mitchell at (408) 554-4546 or jjmitchell@scu.edu.