After the Oct. 1 shooting incident in Las Vegas, the issue of mass shootings in this country has risen once again to a topic of discussion. Colorado Mesa University wants students to feel at ease, knowing that plans are in place in case something similar begins on campus. CMU works closely with the Grand Junction Police Department, the FBI and other local law enforcement year-round to make sure the campus is secure and prepared for the worst.
An advantage for CMU is that the campus police come from the Grand Junction Police Department, which means that in the event of an emergency, when a call is made to 911, the dispatch doesn’t have to go through campus police before it can reach the city police because the city police department is already there.
“I think our arrangement makes us safer and better equipped than most universities because of the fact that often times city police departments have far more resources, more access to training, more developed SWAT teams and expertise and all those sort of things than any university police really has the ability to do,” Vice President of Student Services John Marshall said.
What is the university doing to train for such a dreaded event? The Grand Junction Police Department and the head of campus safety regularly go through an hour-long training with each department on campus in threat assessment and planning. This training includes the Run Hide Fight curriculum, a 3-option safety plan brought up by the FBI and Homeland Security, as well as the specifics of each classroom and building on campus.
CMU also uses an emergency text message system, which students and faculty can sign up for to receive an alert via text if there is ever a threat of any kind on campus.
Because CMU has such a new campus, Marshall feels there is more modern technology on campus, which means it is better equipped than most universities in the country. All residence halls and academic buildings have electronic locks that can only be unlocked with a card. If there was a threat on campus, all of these buildings would immediately be locked down until the threat passed.
Before the arrival of students at the beginning of the year, all staff and RAs run through lockdown drills for training. According to Marshall, the dorms are the easiest buildings on campus to lockdown because they are always locked, and a MavCard is always needed to enter them.
Buildings that are very public and open for long hours, like the University Center, are much harder to secure. Everyone who works in the UC goes through a thorough training each year, as it is the first place the university wants to prepare since it is the most public.
The university also uses the emergency text system as a safety measure. Although not everyone may want to give their personal cell phone number to the university, there are over 10,000 recipients on the list. The idea is that even if an individual student isn’t alerted, someone around them will be, and the word will spread.
The area surrounding Grand Junction is considered to be a gun-friendly community. Like all college campuses, CMU policy states that concealed carry is “appropriate and legal”, as Marshall put it. Marshall estimates hundreds of people on campus have had guns for the past ten years, and CMU hasn’t had a single violent incident.
“The fact that it’s been going on for years and years and years and it really isn’t an issue here tells you that the people that are carrying are law-abiding citizens who’ve gone above and beyond to get training that they need,” Marshall said.
Marshall would not say if the prevalence of concealed carry in the community and among students at CMU serves as a deterrent to potential gun violence. Marshall did say that while students and faculty that exercise their right to concealed carry may defend themselves and others in the case of an active shooter on campus, they should avoid pursuing the shooter. In such a case, the person could be mistaken by police as the shooter and engaged accordingly.
The current crime level in Grand Junction and the relatively peaceful history of CMU may make it seem like there is no threat of an active shooter, the university does not want to get complacent, and continues to cooperate with law enforcement and provide training to respond to such an incident.
