UIPD distributes flyers to educate on housing safety
Flyers depicting the “run, hide, fight” phrase were posted to residence halls and distributed to students.
March 29, 2018
The University of Illinois Police Department and the Office of the Chancellor have distributed flyers to students living in University Housing, advising them about what to do in case of an emergency.
The flyers describe three tips for students to follow in any emergency: leaving the area, taking shelter indoors and fighting to protect themselves as the last resort.
“We just try to give students instructions to help them out in any emergency,” said Patrick Wade, UIPD communications director.
“It’s a very straight-forward guideline, and it makes sense,” said Ethan Kuruc, freshman in DGS.
Wade refutes any connection between the distribution of the flyers and the shooting in Parkland, Florida, saying the flyers were printed before the Parkland shooting and are distributed annually.
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However, Googling the phrase “run, hide, fight” yields only search results giving advice on how to respond to an active shooter.
“We want students to take this advice and apply it to any kind of situation they find themselves in. So we don’t want them to think it is just for an active shooter,” Wade said.
Chelsea Hamilton, senior assistant director for communications and marketing of University Housing, said resident advisers are asked to distribute the flyers from room to room in each residence hall, and the flyers would also be taped onto the walls, doors and bulletin boards.
Despite the effort, some students have never received the flyer. Kuruc is one of them.
Kuruc said he learned the information from the syllabuses provided by professors. However, there are still students who did not know much about the information included in the flyer.
Besides distributing the “run, hide, fight” flyers, UIPD also provides training for students and faculty and gives presentations on how to protect themselves by reaching out to different student groups.
Wade said regardless of whether there is an emergency, the police department relies on the cooperation of the campus community to identify potentially dangerous situations, so there is an alternative to run, hide or fight.
“Just being observant and willing to report that information to the police if something makes you uncomfortable,” Wade said.
