All Hands on Deck
Shooter at Illinois university prompts school to further upgrade mass notification system
- By Lisa Weller
- May 01, 2009
In 2007, the entire nation was reeling from the devastation of the Virginia Tech University shootings. As a result, Northern Illinois University decided to apply lessons learned from Virginia Tech and re-examine and fine-tune its own emergency plan.
Officials hoped to be prepared but never to have to execute the plan for a similar event. Unfortunately, NIU's emergency plan was put to the test on Feb. 14, 2008, as the result of a campus shooting.
A Tragic Real-World Test
The shooter had previously attended classes at NIU. A history of mental illness may have brought him to Cole Hall, where he opened fire, killing five students and injuring more than 20. He also shot himself and died at the scene.
As the emergency unfolded, NIU replaced its normal Web site homepage with an all-crisis news page, explaining the incident. The site disseminated an e-mail message notifying the campus population that a shooting was underway. In addition, public safety officials arrived on the scene within minutes.
Because of the emergency plan's warning messages, many students and faculty members locked themselves into rooms, turned the lights off, closed the drapes and hid. Others stayed off campus or fled the area.
A major part of NIU's mass notification success was the all-crisis Web site format. Before the shooting, NIU had installed six dedicated servers to support the Web site. In the first 48 hours after the shooting, the NIU Web site received 14 million hits.
"If we did not have those servers, it would have crashed," said Melanie Magara, NIU's assistant vice president for public affairs. "We had people who learned in a timely manner what was happening on campus via our Web site."
NIU has been praised for its actions and reactions regarding the situation.
"I think a lot of universities are looking at what other technologies are out there and the ways to retrofit existing technology," Magara said. "Can there be a better use of existing fire alarms? In our case, the incident was over so quickly, there was no further danger after about two minutes."
Magara believes that if everyone in all buildings could have been alerted to the shooting, campus officials would have told people to stay where they were.
What's Next
In the months after the shooting, NIU considered various scenarios: What would have happened if there were multiple shooters, winding their way through campus? What if those shooters orchestrated assaults at timed intervals? School officials know the potential for disaster was far greater than what actually transpired.
Magara said the year after the shooting has included a close examination of what the school did, didn't do and should prepare for in terms of mass notification during future emergencies.
Questions are turning into solutions as NIU officials work toward further securing the campus. The school has received grants to help make the campus among the safest in the state, if not the country.
This article originally appeared in the issue of .