Public Safety Enhancements

Dear Campus Community,

Following an after-incident review of last Thursday afternoon’s shelter-in-place on campus, we are announcing some important changes to enhance university safety protocols and response. The changes reflect learnings from our response, including feedback from community members, and from incidents that have occurred recently on other campuses.

As President Peñalver indicated in his message, it was a scary incident which only heightened the anxiety many felt following the recent tragedy at Michigan State University. Fortunately, the quick response by Seattle police and Campus Public Safety—and the actions we all took to protect one another—helped keep everyone safe and unharmed.

The following changes are being implemented now and over the next few weeks:

• All students, faculty and staff will be automatically enrolled quarterly in our emergency alert notification system, which includes text, desktop and email delivery of notices related to emergencies and emergency preparedness drills. You can help by making sure your contact information, including your mobile phone number, is up to date in your MySeattleU profile.
  
  
• Emergency alerts will include links to a new informational page with specific instructions when the alert includes terms like shelter-in-place that call for you to act. As a reminder, Emergency Procedures are posted throughout campus inside buildings, classrooms and office spaces with a summary of action steps for most situations.
  
  
• We will increase the frequency of campuswide shelter-in-place drills conducted each year and offer drills for day and evening commuters.
  
  
• We will expand in-person Public Safety trainings across campus and will review opportunities with Human Resources to enhance online safety training modules for faculty and staff. The drills and trainings can be especially helpful to faculty and staff who may be less familiar with specific action steps to take in each situation.

The after-incident review also helps inform the update to the university’s Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) and review of our emergency infrastructure systems that is underway. The EOP outlines the responsibilities of the institution and our community in responding to emergency situations before, during and after they occur to help our community respond promptly, systematically and confidently.

Seattle University’s urban location and open campus offer many benefits to our campus and neighboring community. At the same time, it is important for each of us to be prepared and vigilant in keeping our community safe. We are fortunate to have a well-trained and dedicated team of public safety professionals on campus, a close working relationship with the Seattle Police Department and SPD’s east precinct located two blocks from campus.

As a reminder, public safety information and resources, including emergency procedures and in-person trainings, can be found on Public Safety’s webpage. In addition, you can always reach out to us directly. Thank you for all you do to care for and protect one another.

Sincerely,

Dominque Maryanski
Interim Director, Campus Public Safety