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Tragedies such as the off-campus fatal shooting involving some of our
students and former students are always disturbing and immediately raise
questions about how we’ll ensure the on-campus safety of our students,
faculty and staff. To be certain we have the right answers quickly to
those very complicated questions that affect the nearly 25,000
individuals who work or study at Fresno State, we gather as much
information as we can and share it as broadly and speedily as we are
able.
After Monday night’s sad event, we implemented our emergency
communications plan, which included e-mail alerts and updates, and
activated our campus emergency radio station, hotline phone and
division-specific phone trees. We housed and fed students displaced by
the shooting and subsequent investigation and we immediately had
counseling available for any who needed to talk about the incident. Our
campus operators answered scores of phone calls from worried parents,
students and staff, offering all the latest information.
Our University Police Department worked closely with the Fresno Police
Department to ensure campus security.
I was in touch with Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer throughout the search
for the young man sought for the shooting, gathering the latest
information to guide my decision on whether to keep the campus open. The
chief, who has two children attending Fresno State, said that he did not
believe the campus was in danger and he told me his officers were in
telephone contact with the suspect and his lawyer about surrendering.
That information, not available to the general public and media, helped
me reach the decision to keep the campus open.
We will, of course, evaluate our performance in this emergency and
adjust our future plans to reflect what we learn from the experience. We
have already been exploring other ways to notify the campus community
via cell phone technology (text message and/or voice) and will be making
a decision soon on what additional equipment we may need and how to pay
for it.
But with this incident behind us, I want to thank all of you who helped
us get through this emergency. Because of the calm atmosphere, students
were able to attend classes, even though this shooting added to the
stress already affecting them with finals just ahead. Our entire staff’s
professionalism was commendable. I appreciate what you did and assure
everyone that we will never compromise your safety.
John D. Welty
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