Queens schools update emergency plans

One year after the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech University left 32 people dead, most of the colleges and universities in Queens have implemented emergency alert systems with the hopes of preventing a similar tragedy from happening locally.
The emergency alert systems, which are now in place at all City University of New York (CUNY) institutions as well as some private schools, allow school officials to communicate with students, faculty and staff in case of an emergency.
“Virginia Tech and everything else that has happened [since September 11, 2001] has really kicked our emergency preparedness plan into place,” said Dominic Scianna, Assistant Vice President for Media Relations at St. John’s University.
St. John’s was one of the first schools in Queens to implement an emergency alert system, and on Wednesday, September 26, they put it into action.
That afternoon, authorities apprehended a 22-year-old man carrying a rifle on campus, and while authorities were canvassing the campus, St. John’s officials kept students and faculty members updated through text messages on their cell phones.
Prior to the incident, about 2,100 students and staff had signed up for the text message service, but immediately after the incident, that number skyrocketed. Currently, 14,139 students out of 20,086 have signed up to receive alerts and an additional 580 faculty members 748 administration officials and 574 staff members have also registered to get updates.
Meanwhile, shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting, Queens College implemented their own emergency alert system that currently has 8,922 registrants. Earlier this year, the CUNY launched a similar system called CUNY A!ert at all of their institutions, and Queens College followed suit switching over to CUNY A!ert.
However, since it was a new system, college personnel had to sign up again for CUNY A!ert, and currently only 3,057 people have registered.
“I think the system [CUNY A!ert] only came [ON LINE] in March, and I don’t think there has been enough communication from CUNY to the students,” said Naveed Husain, Chief Information Officer for Queens College.
Husain also said that within the past year, he has noticed a difference at the school, which he believes is true at most colleges and universities across the country.
“You are a lot more vigilant to what is happening on campus,” Husain said. “I think students are a lot more vigilant too.