Universities across the country are reassessing security strategies in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., where 33 students and faculty were killed Monday during the nation’s deadliest shooting spree. Police have identified the shooter as 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui, a senior from South Korea who majored in English. He committed suicide after the attacks.
Security policies changed immediately at the mostly gated campus of Hampton University. “We used to check licenses and IDs upon entering the campus from 9 to 5, now it’s in place 24 hours,” says Yuri Rodgers Milligan, director of university relations at the historically Black Virginia school.
Milligan says the students are holding a vigil to honor the victims and their families. “The students were shocked that it could happen at a university,” she says. “Their hearts go out to the students, especially being a university so near by.”
Smaller colleges, like Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Mount Pleasant, Mich., are keeping a watchful eye out for anything unusual.
“We’re pretty small and know all of our students,” says president Karen Radell. “If somebody showed up, we would call the tribal police. I don’t think we should start locking the doors or have it run like a military base. It wouldn’t keep out the people who really are determined to harm somebody. I don’t see us making changes, but we might become more vigilant.”
One of the most daunting tasks faced by universities throughout the country is in providing security in an open-campus environment — and often with large acre grounds and multi-building complexes.
Prior to the shootings at Virginia Tech, the deadliest campus shooting on record was in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where a sniper opened fire killing 16 people and wounded 31 others.
