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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: Safety is everyone’s responsibility

With questions about the emergency response system at Virginia Tech still looming in light of Monday’s tragic events, campuses across the country are scrambling to review and reform their public safety policies.

Arguably, GW is ahead of the higher education curve for public safety. After September 11, the development of the Office of Public Safety ensured that the GW administration included staff members specifically designated to plan for emergencies and create contingencies when significant events impact campus. This office, however, will never operate to its full potential if students, staff and faculty members do not take an active role in ensuring the safety of GW’s campus.

There is one extremely beneficial public safety initiative that the GW community vastly under-uses: Alert DC. A D.C. government service, Alert DC sends text message alerts to users’ cell phones during emergencies. The service includes an option specifically designed for members of the GW and Foggy Bottom community. Unfortunately, only a small number of people are signed up for this feature. Students and staff alike should immediately visit the University Police Department Web site, which will direct them to the registration for this service.

The Office of Public Safety must work to effectively publicize this and other safety initiatives at GW. This includes the GW Incident Manual, a document designed to direct faculty and staff during a crisis. Administrators must ensure that faculty are trained at least once a semester to handle a campus crisis and that they review the Incident Manual.

An area in need of review is GW’s use of the infomail system. This system can send a blast e-mail to everyone with a GW e-mail address. Administrators, however, frequently use this system to publicize trivial programs or events, such as a Karl Hobbs basketball camp. The more administrators use InfoMail, the less important each e-mail becomes in the minds of recipients. Thus, an e-mail about a campus safety emergency is all the more likely to go unread. Administrators must either use the InfoMail system more wisely, or create a separate system that clearly designates emergency e-mails as such.

Safety on campus is everyone’s responsibility. Students should be aware of UPD safety programs and sign up for Alert DC. Faculty and staff should review emergency policies. The administration should ensure that these resources are well publicized and institute mandatory training, or at least review of these policies for faculty and staff.

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