Dear Campus Community:
All across the nation and here at CSU Stanislaus, we are grieving at the tragic loss of life at Virginia Tech University. We all feel deep sadness and sympathy for everyone at Virginia Tech and the families affected by yesterday’s shootings.
In the midst of this tragedy, I want to assure our students and their families, and our faculty and staff that we at CSU Stanislaus are committed to providing and maintaining a safe educational environment. We are an open, public campus so there will always be some amount of risk, but we take great strides to minimize those risks and help ensure everyone’s safety.
California State University, Stanislaus has its own police department with fully trained and experienced police officers who provide protection for our campus community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These officers regularly participate in training in an effort to prepare for worst case scenarios such as the dreadful incident that Virginia Tech suffered. We also have a close working relationship with the City of Turlock Police Department and other regional, state, and federal agencies whose officers are ready and available to respond to a campus emergency at a moment’s notice.
Over 70 building marshals and monitors spread throughout the CSU Stanislaus campus are trained to provide communications and directions in the event of an emergency. The University also has a hotline (1-877-STAN-411) that provides immediate and up-to-date information as well as a Web site to keep everyone informed in an emergency or unusual situation.
A large-scale emergency preparedness exercise will take place on campus next November and will involve multi-law enforcement agency participation. This is an essential further step in helping us anticipate and prepare for possible future emergencies.
The tools mentioned above are just a few that we have in place to prevent crime, respond to emergencies, and maintain campus safety. Despite the solid plans and teams we already have in place, though, yesterday’s events at Virginia Tech require us to review our plans, training, and equipment even more closely.
If you do face a crisis situation on campus, please do the following:
- Recognize danger signs and call 9-1-1 immediately. Emergency Blue Light Phones are located throughout campus for 9-1-1 contact.
- Share any factual information you have seen or heard.
- Follow any directions given by University personnel assisting Public Safety.
Remember, your safety and positive educational experience is very important to us.
Regards,
Ham ShirvaniPresident