Reconsider drinking age?

From The Daily Texan

The UT Vice President's Council recommended by unanimous decision Thursday that President William Powers not sign a controversial statement by university presidents from across the country calling for a reconsideration of the legal drinking age.

The Amethyst Initiative, led by former Middlebury College President John McCardell, is supported by 129 university and college presidents who agree that a culture of clandestine binge-drinking has formed on college campuses because "21 is not working."

The initiative's statement, written by McCardell, stops short of spelling out a desired policy, but urges elected officials to support a civil debate on the current drinking age.

Powers learned of the initiative days before the statement was released Aug. 20 and said he would consult with the University's vice presidents before deciding whether to sign on.

Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzales said he made it clear to the other vice presidents that the initiative was not intended to prescribe a particular policy solution but to start a conversation on university campuses. He said the council based its decision on existing research linking a rise in the legal drinking age to a drop in alcohol-related deaths.

Gonzales said legislators ultimately are responsible for leading discussion on matters of policy.

"This is a matter of public policy, and there are elected representatives that are responsible for creating and voting on public policy," Gonzales said.

Student Government spokeswoman Chelsea Fosse said SG representatives have not decided whether to take a stance on the initiative.

Fosse is a member of the Alcohol Task Force, a working group composed of representatives from across UT considering issues related to alcohol abuse on campus. The task force expects to make recommendations to Vice President Gonzales on how to improve the University's policies on alcohol abuse sometime during the upcoming academic year.

Formed in 2007, the task force is still in an information-gathering stage, but Fosse said she hoped the recommendations would emphasize a more proactive approach to alcohol abuse. She said such an approach could involve a campus administrator advising student organizations on how to address alcohol use.

"The most important thing is making it not just a retroactive disciplinary policy on alcohol but something that's proactive and embraces whatever the organization's culture is," Fosse sai

UCrime to cover K-State

Colin Drane of UCrime.com called this morning to say that K-State would within a few days be included on the UCrime.com database. I appreciate his interest and it sounds as if his organization is keenly tuned to the market place. That's something we don't always see at the institutional level.

Survival training

From the AP:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Hundreds of colleges across the nation have purchased a training program that teaches professors and students not to take campus threats lying down but to fight back with any "improvised weapon," from a backpack to a laptop computer.

The program—which includes a video showing a gunman opening fire in a packed classroom—urges them to be ready to respond to a shooter by taking advantage of the inherent strength in numbers.

It reflects a new response at colleges and universities where grisly memories of the campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University are still fresh.

"Look at your environment through the lens of survival," said Domenick Brouillette, who administered the course at Metropolitan Community College, which serves more than 20,000 students. "Survivors prepare themselves both mentally and emotionally to do what it takes. It might involve life-threatening risk. You may do something you never thought you were capable of doing."

Nearly 300 professors at Metropolitan Community College were shown the video as part of a training exercise before the first day of classes on this downtown campus. The training, produced by the Center for Personal Protection and Safety, a for-profit firm based in Spokane, Wash., is also available for the school's students.

The training drills teachers and students in a "survival mindset," said Randy Spivey, a former U.S. Department of Defense hostage negotiator who is executive director of the center. The center's roster includes retired FBI agents and others with federal law enforcement experience.

"There are two extremes. On the one hand is paranoia, and on the other is oblivion," he said. "We're just trying to get people to keep this on their radar."

The training discourages cowering in a corner or huddling together in fear, Brouillette emphasized at the Kansas City session.

Instead, Metropolitan Community College faculty members were taught to be aware of their surroundings and to think of common classroom objects—such as laptops and backpacks—as "improvised weapons."

The program has been bought by nearly 500 colleges, which tailor the company's safety messages—laid out in instructional videos and other training guides—to craft localized violence prevention programs. Spivey expects that by year's end that number will have grown to about 1,000 schools.

Schools may provide the training to students as well as staff, as at Metropolitan, or limit it to instructors or security personnel.

Campus safety experts interviewed by The Associated Press said they are not aware of any similar survival training courses marketed specifically to college campuses.

"It's a dark subject," Brouillette said. "But we can't say 'It's never going to happen again.' It's 'When is it going to happen?' And we have to be prepared to survive that."

The sort of aggressive survival response cited by Brouillette troubles school violence researcher Loren Coleman, a retired University of Southern Maine professor.

Showing students violent images of school shootings could trigger post-traumatic stress or other reactions that resident advisers, graduate assistants and similarly untrained workers would be unequipped to handle, Coleman said.

And the techniques shown in instructional videos such as "Shots Fired" could provide inspiration for troubled students considering their own acts of violence, Coleman suggested.

"You more or less are giving them a blueprint for how to avoid law enforcement," he said.

At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, officials are looking for ways to incorporate the training as part of the school's "Alert Carolina" program. Campus police chief Jeff McCracken said the school may offer hands-on training to students and faculty, or simply post a link on the university Web site.

Despite the relative rarity of deadly violence on campus, colleges can no longer assume that they are immune from such problems, McCracken said.

"I do think it's important that we talk to our folks and give them some guidance on how to protect themselves and others," he said. "It's not something that 10 years ago we thought we'd be talking about. But unfortunately, it's something we need to do now."

Todd Bowdish, a Metropolitan Community College life sciences professor who participated in the recent training session, agreed that today's classroom climate requires extreme caution.

"It's a really basic thing," Bowdish said. "We have drills for fires and tornadoes. This is just another tool for the toolbox."

MU freshman held in case

From the Maneater today: An excerpt:

A man who was arrested after police found his mother's body in the trunk of his car and his younger brother, who was also detained by police, were both taking classes at MU.

Police pulled over MU freshman Daniel Sanders, 19, on Aug. 14 in response to multiple complaints his car had been swerving and driving without headlights, Columbia Police Capt. Brad Nelson said. While searching the vehicle, police found a body wrapped in a blanket in the trunk of his Mercury Marquis, Nelson said.

The body was identified as Helen Sanders, his mother. The car was also registered to her, Nelson said.

Daniel Sanders was unwilling to cooperate with initial inquiries regarding the body, Nelson said.

"He refused to answer any questions about the body in the trunk," he said.

Daniel Sanders' younger brother Gary Sanders, 16, who takes classes at MU, was detained in their home on Melrose Drive.

UCrime gets more press

Here is coverage from the Seattle PI about UCrime.com.

Seattle's University District is peppered with fists, robbers and handcuffs, according to a recently-launched Web site that tracks crime near college campuses around the country.
That's code for assaults, burglaries and arrests. Take a look at the map produced by UCrime.com, which tracks police data to for a comprehensive look at criminal activity near more than 100 schools.

TK: As I'm seeing the stats, K-State and Baylor are the only Big 12 schools not on this system. Why aren't Baylor and K-State on board? A good question for our student newspapers.

Rape report - Residence hall

From the offices of the KSU Police Department:

Rape report: The Kansas State University Police Department is investigating a rape which, occurred in a resident hall on August 22, 2008. The suspect was known to the victim. The case is still under investigation.

Captain Donald Stubbings

Support Services Commander

Kansas State University Police Department

108 Edwards Hall

Manhattan, KS 66506

785-532-6412

785-532-7408(fax

Cameras worth the expense

That's the word from the University of Massachusetts. From the story:

AMHERST - While University of Massachusetts police can't say how many crimes the security cameras have prevented on campus they are a tool that is well worth the approximate $1 million spent on them.

"They have been an extremely useful tool in terms of identifying a suspect after a crime has occurred," said Deputy Chief of Administration Patrick T. Archbald.

Police Chief Barbara R. O'Connor cited a case in which there was a drug-related armed robbery in a residence hall. They sent the images out to the campus community taken from the cameras and within 24 hours they had the suspects identified and in another 24 they were arrested, she said.

She said 100 percent of the time the university has posted suspects' images, they have identified them - irrefutable proof of how well they work. "The reality of today's society, it's an accepted part of the culture," O'Connor said.

University officials are just finishing up the installation of 60 additional security cameras bringing the total to more than 500 placed in residence halls, dining commons and other buildings as part of a campus safety program initiated in 2000. Overall, the estimated cost of the project for UMass Amherst Housing Services is about $1.1 million.

"We think it's been an outstanding investment. That's why we're encouraging their use in residence halls and expansion in academic buildings," Archbald said.

Cameras are not in rooms, he pointed out. And he said with so many, police aren't riveted to watching monitors constantly so people don't have to worry about privacy infringement.

But he said it's important that the cameras are being placed in academic buildings. O'Connor said cameras are in the entrances and exits of residences and other buildings but not on the dorm floors.

Archbald praised the UMass community at large for addressing the issue. The university is "thinking about security needs before the buildings are designed. We're part of the process."