Gregoire seeks funds for campus security
SEATTLE – Gov. Chris Gregoire says she will ask the Legislature for $14.3 million to improve safety on the state’s college and university campuses.
In a news conference Tuesday at the University of Washington, Gregoire said every campus needs money to review its emergency plans and improve instant warning systems, with an emphasis on meeting each campus’ individual needs instead of taking a statewide approach.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells, D-Seattle, said she would sponsor legislation to support the governor’s plan, which will be part of a supplemental budget Gregoire plans to release on Dec. 18.
The governor said she won’t be asking for many other new budget items for higher education when the Legislature meets early next year, but said campus security improvements can’t wait until the next time lawmakers consider the state’s biennial budget, in 2009.
All of the accomplishments in the state’s universities will fail to attract students if parents feel their children will not be safe on campus, Gregoire said. “When I took my two daughters to look at colleges … my top priorities were safety, safety, safety.”
The shootings last April at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., and the shooting death that same month of a University of Washington employee got campus officials across Washington thinking anew about security. Some security improvements have already been made, but the governor said she wants to make sure thoughts of improving campus security don’t disappear until the next tragedy.
Her budget proposal is based on input from college and university officials and a survey of campuses across the country in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. The proposal includes $8 million for instant warning systems on all campuses; $2.85 million for high-tech communication via e-mail, text messaging and Web alerts; $2.2 million for facility mapping and security cameras; $395,000 for loudspeakers and outdoor alarm systems; and $829,000 to enable campuses to do a remote lockdown of campus buildings and classrooms.
The plan includes some improvements that would bring some 100-year-old buildings into the 21st century as far as security is concerned. Gregoire said that would be the most expensive part of the plan.
Students at Tuesday’s news conference commended Gregoire for thinking about high-tech ways to reach students in an emergency but reminded her that students in classrooms are usually required to turn off their electronic devices.
During her presentation, a test message was sent to university students and staff, but most everyone in the room had turned off the sound on their cell phones and didn’t hear the alert. They saw the message after the governor asked if anyone had received a message.
She emphasized the importance of combining both low-tech sirens and loudspeakers with high-tech efforts because redundancy improves the chances that more people will be reached.