Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Virginia Tech

One year ago tomorrow, a day after a shooting spree at Virginia Tech, top campus safety officials across the country walked into work with a single question: How can we stop something like this from happening?

Now, NYU officials say they think they know.

They want to build a system that can lock down a classroom at the push of a button, sounding an alarm and keeping intruders out. An entire floor or building could be secured by Public Safety remotely. Public announcement systems would issue instructions and information. Across campus, cell phones would ring, alerting students with NYU's new emergency voice and text messaging system.

It's a vision NYU is working to make a reality.

The university is looking to purchase a classroom lock down system, the first of its kind in a university setting, which could secure rooms, floors and entire buildings so no one could get in while still allowing people out. P.A. systems are currently being installed in new buildings, and older facilities will be retrofitted with the systems in the future.

But the crucial piece - the lock down mechanism - depends almost entirely on the budget, Vice President for Public Safety Jules Martin said. According to Martin, once the testing stage has been completed, most likely by this summer, a cost can be calculated and the numbers crunched.

All buildings - including dorms - are being considered, Crime Prevention Manager Jay Zwicker and Martin said in an interview. But priority will be given to buildings based on volume, putting the Silver Center at the top of the list.

The attack at Virginia Tech's Blacksburg Campus left 33 dead, including the shooter. In its aftermath, schools around the nation, including NYU, reassessed their procedures, a process that ended in these new proposals.

In the meantime, the first line of defense against armed assailants is the police, Martin said. Public safety guards are unarmed; in a crisis, they are supposed to call 911. The university can summon two additional 16-person guard response teams, which are trained to help in evacuations and shut down traffic on neighboring towns.

One guard, who WSN granted anonymity because public safety officers are not allowed to speak to the press, said the protocol for a shooter situation is the same for a fire.

"It's really tough," another guard said. "There's not much more that we can do than ask for help. We're unarmed. We can't go near a shooter."

Martin said that the NYPD is only minutes away, noting that the average response time in the precincts that include NYU is four minutes. But in a shooter situation, Martin predicted that it would be shorter.

"[The guards] have operated since the beginning with their wits and they're doing just fine," Martin said.


Additional reporting by T.K. Wiggin and Robyn Baitcher. Jane C. Timm is the university editor. E-mail her at jtimm@nyunews.com.

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