safety first

Hi All - As I was listening to NPR on the drive in to work this morning, I was reminded that this is the anniversary of the Columbine HS shootings. Although Columbine sticks in many of our minds, the sad fact is that violence in schools is not a new phenomenon - in fact, the deadliest school violence occurred in 1927 in Bath, Michigan when a bombing left 45 people dead.

We are asked about campus safety frequently when talking to prospective students and parents. They are not necessarily interested in crime statistics - although some are - but rather are asking the basic question of whether their daughter or son will be safe.

I serve on a campus working group called the Emergency Response Team. The ERT has been testing and implementing a variety of protocols in case of a campus emergency. So far, we are finding that a combination of both high-tech and low-tech methods are effective in alerting the campus community to any kind of emergency - weather, human, etc. For example, we now have cell phones registered to send text messages; Voice over Internet Protocol phones which can display an alarm; an emergency screen that displays on our computers; loudspeakers in all buildings; and emergency messages that can be piped through our fire alarm system. For more information: http://emergency.uwec.edu/

Our campus police http://www.uwec.edu/police/index.htm works in tandem with the larger Eau Claire city police to respond to various emergencies and then, of course, less serious campus issues. Our campus has emergency phone in parking lots, an escort service for late-night walking assistance, locked residence halls, and lots of programming for safe choices regarding alcohol use and sexual encounters.

It's next to impossible to prepare for or prevent every random possibility. And we all need to use common sense as individuals. But I hope parents and students know that we take their safety very seriously and want the next 4 years of their lives to be healthy, challenging, productive, and safe ones.

Kris

April showers bring May flowers...or do they?

Happy Monday, Everyone!

It's crunch month here in our office. April is the month where everything comes together. Students get financial aid/scholarship notifications, come back to visit campus, sign up for Orientation, and ultimately, make the final decision whether or not to attend. It keeps us on pins and needles sometimes...particularly this year with the economy making our predictions less certain.

Usually, an office like ours has years and years of statistical models that are pretty accurate in predicting how many of our admitted students will actually enroll. And here you all thought you were individuals with free will;-). We take into account tuition deposits, housing deposits, Orientation sign ups, what our competition is doing, etc. And usually, we're accurate with our predictions. One year, we were off by only one! :) This year? Sheesh. I don't know. Some indications suggest we're right on target and some say we might have more freshmen than we thought. It all depends on what is important to our families right now.

Potentially, with the economy being dicey, maybe students will stick closer to home so they can commute and save money. But maybe not. Maybe with our scholarship offers being down, some students may choose to go elsewhere where they have been offered one. But maybe not. It's kind of like doing your NCAA brackets...always a surprise or two.

What I am confident about is that we will have a great class. I have talked to many of you, and you are bright and full of passion, eager to start this exciting journey. And we are excited to welcome you. How many of you will there be this fall? Between 2000-2100 freshmen and 500-600 transfers. I'll know more after April......or May......or June.....:)

Kris