We're having "training" today, by zoom, with all the hilarity which always accrues when non-tech people try to use technology.
My favorite so far (heavy sarcasm here) is the Active Shooter training. We're advised that we should follow ADD -- Avoid, Deny, Defend. So if someone comes on campus and starts shooting people, here's what we should do:
Avoid the shooter i.e. run away and hide. I'm okay with this one; it's what I would do.
Deny the shooter access to wherever you are hiding. So do stuff like lock doors, turn off lights, barricade any doors that don't lock...and here is where the instructions fall apart. If doors open outward and don't lock (this is most of the classrooms on campus), we should find some way to block the doors or keep them from opening. The "training" provided ways to do this, most of which look pretty useless, frankly.
Defend yourself, it's your legal right! This is for when your efforts to deny access fail. You can hit the shooter with a laptop, or a stapler! You're allowed to defend yourself! No mention of guns here, but since our legislature forced us to allow concealed carry on campus, maybe a couple of a students will be packing. We can only hope!
And a coda: When the police show up, do exactly as they tell you, because otherwise they will probably shoot you. (This last was not exactly stated openly.) Be sure you don't have weapons in your hands when the police show up, or they will probably shoot you. (Again, not stated.) Don't have anything that looks like a weapon in your hand when the police show up, or they will probably shoot you. (Again...)
How likely is it that our campus will have an active shooter? I don't know, but the fact that the GOP is ginning up outrage against universities and teachers makes me less sanguine about the possibility than I used to be.
Life in America in 2022.
5 comments:
Speaking as someone who went to a college that had a multiple shooting incident pre-Columbine and who also used to sometimes shop at the supermarket in Boulder that had the active shooter last year... I don't know if any public space is safe, really. Except maybe airports once you're past TSA and anywhere else where they have the power to deny access to the armed.
I might one-up you on this. At some point, our campus security installed panic buttons underneath classroom lecture tables. If there is an unsafe situation in the classroom, one could flip the switch and DPS would come. In theory, that's a great idea. The problem? No one told existing faculty about this installed feature; they only informed incoming faculty of this during their orientations.I The senior faculty found out via word of mouth from other faculty. guess "in with the new, and out with the old"?
Foscavista: OMG.
Anony: Yeah, I agree.
And the afternoon meeting? A zoom meeting that required a passcode that they didn’t send out? I was OVER all the tech glitches.
I mean, at that point I was past expecting anything to work. :D
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