|
Webinar enlightens staff, faculty on campus safety |
|
|
|
Thursday, 24 April 2008 |
by LAUREN LAWSON
News Reporter
Appalachian State University’s faculty and staff met Monday morning in Plemmon’s Student Union to watch a webinar titled: “What We’ve Learned: Higher Education After Virginia Tech,” focusing on changes across various U.S. colleges.
A webinar is a web conference conducted over the Internet.
The webinar was hosted by media company Magna Publications and dealt with higher education publishing, Vice Chancellor of Student Development Cindy A. Wallace said.
She said the conference was originally held live April 15, but due to
lack of room, Appalachian ended up purchasing a CD copy for faculty and
staff to view.
A number of faculty and staff attended alongside Wallace, including
Appalachian Police Chief Gunther Doerr and newly appointed Emergency
Coordinator Seth Norris.
The webinar featured a five person panel of peers speaking about changes on their campuses after Virginia Tech.
They discussed already implemented plans, current plans undergoing
testing and updating, as well as plans for the future safety of
campuses.
The first speaker was Ron Chasbrough, vice president of student affairs
at Hastings College, and he discussed the ways that faculty, staff,
students and parents currently view plans for safety.
“This generation is the most sheltered generation to come to
college…they’re used to having parents who are hyper involved,”
Chasbrough said.
He said the lines have been blurred when it comes to what is considered
public and private information and causes a lack of communication.
Chasbrough said a college’s role is to educate students on what is
public and private, update Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) policies, mental health policies, handle parental involvement,
outside authorities, and ease campus hysteria.
Director and Chief of Public Safety at Fisk University Ralph Hatley
discussed civil and individual liberties versus public safety, as well
as the benefits of training all members of a college community.
Vice President of Student Development at Rivier College Lynn Jansky
discussed improving emergency communications and the importance of
testing new communication plans.
Some faculty made remarks to one another following Assistant Vice
Provost at the University of South Carolina Scott Lewis’s lecture on
the role of faculty and staff.
“They are reporters and are required to report all information gathered
on students inside and outside the classroom to the appropriate
groups…it’s no longer up to the teacher’s discretion on what to and not
to report,” Lewis said.
Executive Director of Alumni Affairs at Burlington County College said,
“When responding, speed, accuracy, thoroughness and consistency are
vital in ensuring credibility during a crisis.”
Some of the questions posed to the panel by people participating in the
webinar while it occurred live asked about the cost of changes, new
policies and where it would come from, as well as what the panel
considered to be the most important changes.
Doerr addressed the issue of testing the new communication system at
Appalachian by announcing a planned test of the e-mail and text
messaging service Thursday between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
“These are the highest phone usage times and we’re trying to see how
far we can stretch the system successfully…currently we have less than
20 percent of students, staff, and faculty registered, and I urge
people to do so [register],” Doerr said.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments