Centre continues efforts to make campus safer

RELEASED: March 5, 2009

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College's ongoing efforts to make campus more secure for faculty, staff and students has been enhanced by a recently installed public notification system. Centre is among the first colleges to install this type of system.

Devices have been installed in classrooms that allow the Department of Public Safety to notify members of the campus community of an emergency in areas where cell phones may not be readily available or may have to be turned off. The new units have flashing strobe lights, emit an audible alarm and provide scrolling text messages when activated in the event of an emergency. In addition, five large LED emergency notification signs have been installed in Crounse Hall (at the reference desk in Doherty Library and in Vahlkamp Theatre), Sutcliffe Hall (in Hazelrigg and Alumni gymnasiums) and Chowan (main dining facility).

This newest addition to the campus's crisis alert system augments the emergency notification systems already in place, including an emergency mass notification text-messaging system (or "reverse 911"), voicemail, and "urgent" campus e-mail.

Moreover, the College has an Emergency/Crisis Response Plan that details sequences of action for a variety of potential crises, as well as a number of backup communication systems. For example:

• A phone tree of resident assistants and resident directors
• Public Safety officers on duty 24/7, who all have hand-held communication devices at all times
• 27 Facilities Management staff members who can assist with a campus lockdown of classroom buildings (residence halls are locked 24/7).
• Web-site templates, which can be posted quickly to convey emergency information

While no plan can possibly defend against every conceivable risk, emergency response is a matter that has received and will continue to receive considerable attention at the College.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.