    |
            |
 |
Trail Staff Writer
In 1999, 186,000 violent crimes were committed at school. With that number increasing every year, a question is beginning to arrise. Does anyone feel safe at school?
Northwest College officials have been wondering the same thing and after three years of planning, the Northwest College Crisis Management Plan is in its final stages.
According to NWC Campus Resource Officer Mike Williams, he and seven other committee members have been hard at work finalizing a plan for Northwest.
“It is not released yet,” Williams explained of the flow chart that will be distributed across campus. “When this gets put out, there will be a handbook in every classroom.”
The plan includes bomb threats, bus and auto accidents, chemical spills, death of a faculty member, students or staff, fire, arson and explosives, gas leaks, hostage situations, dangerous intruder situations, poisoning, power failures, sexual assault, shooting or wounding, attacks, student or personnel injury, suicide attempts or threats, weapon situations and weather.
He explained that in college, a shooting would be difficult.
“How do you let the students on one side of campus know not to come over to the other side of campus?” he asked. “Everything is spread out and you have kids walking everywhere.”
But Williams is certain that once the plan is intact, the campus will be safer all around.
“If there was a bomb threat the people would know who to contact, what to do on the phone, what questions to ask, what to write down and record, somebody will need to be trained to do this,” Williams said.
The committee that is working on the plan consists of Northwest
staff Mike Sperry, Bob Brawley, Dee Havig, Roxanne Herman, Ron
Williams believes that it is important to have a plan.
“It’s important because it gives people a safer feeling,” he said. “At least we have some kind of plan.”
After the plan is complete, Northwest will work with the Powell Police Department, Powell Fire Department and emergency medical technicians to make sure that when an emergency happens, there will be sufficient communication between the college plan and the plans that the stations have intact.
Bob Brawley, head of the Northwest College physical plant, will sit with the stations and perform a “table-top” crisis stimulation in which they will choose one crisis and go through the process step-by-step of what each department should do.
“If we practiced a scenario, then we can see where the system is breaking down, what went wrong,” he continued. “We can see what went smooth and what didn’t.”
“Once that has been completed we will discuss performing a “mock” crisis,” Brawley explained. “a crisis that will involve the campus community and local Park County agencies. This has been a huge undertaking.”
“This is important,” Williams said. “If we have a chemical spill and the fire department has a plan and we have a plan then everything has to work together.”
Brawley agreed, “Once we get through that we will have a better idea about our plan and we will be confident that we have a good plan.”
The next step will be to present the plan to the college board in a couple of weeks. Until then, students, and staff wait.
“I think its a good idea because all the high school and elementary school have already done it,” NWC freshman Chandelle MacDonald said. “It’s about time for the college to do it.”
“This is a good thing,” Williams agreed. “It could happen here just as well as anywhere else. You can’t say its a small place and that nothing will ever happen.”
Trail Staff Writer
Many students arrive at college unaware of the dangers that can arise while attending school. They sometimes leave with scars that never completely heal. Contrary to many students’ beliefs, college campuses are not exempt from violence.
Northwest College’s violence rate does not follow the national statistics. During 2000, one case of aggravated assault was the only act of violence reported, according to the Campus Crime Statistics pamphlet published by NWC. Between the years of 1998 to 2000 no cases of murder, non-forcible sex, negligent manslaughter, robbery, arson, hate crimes or illegal weapons possession were reported at NWC.
However, the Campus Crime Statistics pamphlet does show that alcohol and drug violations are increasing. In 2000, 19 arrests took place on NWC’s campus for alcohol law violations and five arrests occurred for drug law violations. These numbers have gone up considerably since 1998. Only 11 arrests were made for alcohol law violations and two for drug law violations in 1998.
The pamphlet also contains tips on how to avoid being a victim. It encourages students to walk with others and to be very cautious during the evening and night hours. The pamphlet also suggests keeping your keys ready, using door locks, keeping windows secured and storing all valuables out of sight.
In a nationwide survey by Security on Campus Inc., (a non-profit organization, founded in 1987 by Connie and Howard Cleary, dedicated to safe campuses for college and university students) 59 percent of college students reported that either they or a close friend or relative had been a victim of domestic violence. One of five college students reported at least one incident of abuse in his or her relationships.
The Core Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale published a report on campus violence in February 1998. The report is based on surveys from 89,874 students at 171 institutions and describes issues of collegiate violence, harassment and campus climate.
• Almost one out of two students (43 percent) report that they experienced various forms of violence in the previous year, including threats of violence, actual physical violence, theft involving force or threat of force, forced sexual touching, unwanted intercourse and ethnic or racial harassment. A high percent of the students were influenced by alcohol or other drugs during these episodes, especially in incidents of unwanted sexual intercourse (79 percent), forced sexual
• Students who engage in binge drinking were 3.5 times more likely than their non-drinking counterparts to be victims of physical violence. Also, binge drinkers are nearly three times more likely to endure unwanted sexual intercourse than non-drinkers and more than twice as likely to have experienced forced sexual touching.
• Half the students (49 percent) reported that alcohol and drug use by fellow students interfered with their quality of life on campus by interrupting studying (29 percent), making a mess in their living area (25 percent), making them feel unsafe (22 percent), preventing enjoyment of events (19 percent) and adversely affecting group activities (12 percent).
• Beliefs of student alcohol use can result in difficulties. For example, roughly two-thirds of the students believe alcohol breaks the ice, enhances social activity and gives them something to do. Half believe alcohol contributes to having fun, facilitates male bonding and enhances connections with peers.
• About half the students (including 57 percent of males and 41 percent of females) believe that drinking facilitates sexual opportunities, which may be a setup for personal difficulties including sexual assault, unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV infection.
Many campuses are acting strongly against the number of violence acts that occur at colleges. A North Dakota State University campus protection group put out a list of signs to watch for. Though it is not always easy to predict violent or abusive behavior, these warning signs provide some indication.
Watch out for individuals who ignore you when you speak, cross your personal boundaries, call you names, accuse you of things you have not done, want you to change the way you dress, demonstrate a prejudice, have displayed violence towards people, animals or objects, expect you to alter your free time and activities, appear to have a dual personality, frighten you when they’re angry, have a lack of self-esteem, blame you for their behavior and drink heavily and/or use drugs.
A NWC club, Sexual Assault/Dating Violence Prevention Team (SADVPT), teaches and promotes good dating behavior and how to avoid risky situations.
Mike Williams, NWC campus resource officer, said, “We (NWC) have a few incidents a year, but mostly just squabbles.”
When a student is reported as having violent behavior, they will be restrained from certain places on campus. If the restraining order is violated the student will be removed from the campus.
“On-campus violence here at NWC is taken seriously,” said Williams. “Nobody should have to live in fear.”
|
|