In the continuing effort to find solutions to problems of campus security and emergency planning, University officials will begin discussing the findings of the Campus Security Task Force and how they can be applied on campus.

The task force was formed after the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech in an attempt to pool resources from many different institutions and organizations, collaborate ideas and come up with a plan for the future, said Patti Thompson, spokesperson for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

On April 15 the task force presented their 259-page report to Gov. Rod Blagojevich with recommendations about how to make Illinois’ campuses safer and better prepared for an active threat situation such as a shooter on campus.

Mental health organizations, colleges and universities and response personnel from around the state broke into three committees on the task force: response, prevention and mental health, and legal, Thompson said.

The recommendations of the task force proposed a Campus Security Enhancement Grant Program, which would make $25 million available for funding campus security measures, prevention training programs and emergency communications, according to an official release from the governor’s office.

Although this grant program has been proposed, it is unknown how much money the University would receive from these grants and on which programs the money would be spent, said Kip Mecum, director of emergency planning for the University. Mecum attended the task force meetings in Springfield as member of the response committee.

“What will happen with the money still remains to be seen,” Mecum said.

Although the findings of the task force have been completed, Gov. Blagojevich has asked it to continue its work to review what progress has been made and focus on new areas that need to be addressed, Thompson added.

“We can’t dictate one solution for every school. There is no one size fits all solution,” Thompson said. “But we lay out many different methods so if one way fails, there are other mechanisms for alerting staff and students.”

Emergency text messaging is one format of response and alert that the University has already implemented, and officials are working on using the campus Web site for communication in the future as well, Mecum said. This communication will involve pop-ups for visitors to the University Web site in case of an emergency.

The Department of Public Safety and University officials are also working on getting weather radios from the national weather service station in Lincoln, Ill., to distribute around campus and be able to broadcast warnings or instructions in a necessary situation, he added.

“We are really encouraging units to use redundant forms of communication,” Mecum said. “It’s important to not focus on just one or two so that the message can hopefully spread to everyone.”

First responders at the University are also recommended to be trained according to the National Incident Management program set out by the federal government in order to be fully prepared for emergent situations.

The Department of Public Safety, University Facilities and Services, the McKinley Health Center and other fire and police departments in the area would qualify as first responders to emergency situations, Mecum said.

“We will continue to monitor the changing landscape of emergency response,” Mecum said. “The benefit is learning from situations like Virginia Tech and NIU.”

The Campus Security Task Force report was scheduled to be completed in February, but was delayed because of the shooting at Northern

Illinois University on Feb. 14, Thompson said.

“Members from the task force met with administrators from NIU to talk about lessons learned from that incident,” she added. “In many regards they had an exemplary response to that situation. They did a great job and were able to bring those valuable lessons and skills for other campuses to learn from.”

The Valentine’s Day shooting may have hit close to home for many, not only because it took place in Illinois, but also because the shooter was a University student.

“It really made all the groups take an introspective look at our own campuses,” Mecum said. “Northern really added a sense of urgency to the whole process.”