September marks National Campus Safety Awareness Month and National Preparedness Month. At Case Western Reserve University, we are committed to ensuring the safety of our campus community—and throughout this month, The Daily will highlight a few of the many ways the university works to achieve this. For more resources, visit case.edu/publicsafety.
Throughout this month, we’ve shared multiple resources related to how we connect with you in an emergency—including Rave Guardian, Rave mobile and email alerts, and what various emergency messages mean. But we haven’t yet shared with you why we send messages when we do.
Following a shooting near campus last fall, university administrators immediately began planning for and training on ways to improve and increase our messaging to keep you safe. This step came at the urging of students and parents, who wanted to make sure they were aware of any potential risks to our campus.
Now, Case Western Reserve dispatchers are trained to send an alert immediately if there is an imminent threat reported within our campus boundaries, such as shots fired, an active aggressor or a large fire. You’ve likely received a “shelter in place” warning, or a message that an emergency has been reported near campus, in recent months; this initial step aims to alert the campus community until additional details are available.
Those individuals who have been on campus more than a couple of years have noticed an increase in alerts being sent, but rest assured, this additional reporting doesn’t mean Case Western Reserve’s campus is becoming more dangerous. The safety of our campus community is of the utmost importance, so we would rather err on the side of caution and “over-communicate” any potential threats, rather than “under-communicate” and put you at risk.
The university also has increased other safety resources on campus, including extending Safe Ride hours (6 p.m.-3 a.m.) and adding shuttle routes. In addition, the university offers 24/7 walking escorts, active-aggressor response (ALICE) training and self-defense classes. Learn more at case.edu/publicsafety.