Tennessee Tech University || Virginia Tech Tragedy

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•	Is My Child Safe on Campus? (PDF)
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•	Learning to Cope with Loss (PDF)
•	Talking with Students About the Virginia Tech Tragedy (PDF)

Page updated: 9/18/07

MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT ROBERT BELL

Dear parents and guardians of our TTU students:

The crisis at Virginia Tech raises awareness that no matter how safe an environment a campus provides, tragedy can strike anywhere. The key to preparing for emergencies is communication and planning.

I want you to know that Tennessee Tech University does have plans in place to respond to a variety of emergency situations.

Since Monday, I have been meeting and discussing the Virginia Tech scenario with our University Police chief, Environment & Safety officer and members of the Executive Advisory Committee. We are keeping the safety and security of our campus community at the forefront of our thoughts.

Monday we sent a broadcast e-mail message to all students, faculty and staff, asking each of them to be vigilant and report any concerns they have or suspicious activity they see. While we are at heightened awareness today, it is important that we keep this in mind at all times.

It is also important for you to know that work on our emergency response and communications plans began long before Monday’s events. We have been working on and refining our campus plans for weeks, months and even years, and as technology is enhanced, so are our plans. Most recently, we began updating our campus notification system to coincide with campus tornado drills in February. Additionally, we use broadcast e-mails, broadcast voicemails and the TTU web site to communicate important messages to our campus community.

Tuesday I sent the information below to let students know about the university’s emergency response procedures. I want to reassure you that we do have systems in place and others soon to be implemented that will allow us to notify as many people possible in case of a crisis situation. The following points outline important communication outlets for you to know:

A single-point activation PUBLIC ADDRESS system is available in the buildings where the new fire alarm monitoring system was installed in recent years. Automated emergency warnings can be broadcast over the loudspeakers within those buildings. The system can be activated from a single location.

For those academic or administrative buildings where the new fire alarm system has not yet been installed, a TELEPHONE SPEAKER address system will announce emergency warnings over the telephone speakers in all offices.

Residential buildings (dorms and Tech Village apartments) will use the REVERSE 9-1-1 county-wide web-based Communicator program to telephone rooms within the residence halls and in Tech Village.

Outdoor sirens can be activated during an emergency situation. The primary purpose of the sirens is to warn anyone OUTDOORS of the emergency scenario. A public address system on the siren can be activated from a single location.

As a last resort, P-A systems on University Police cars can be used.

For our two main off-campus locations — the Appalachian Center for Craft and the Hyder Burks Ag Pavilion — each has its own separate phone and fire alarm systems. Relevant contacts will be made to activate emergency communication plans at each of those locations.

We also have the great advantage of being located just blocks away from our city and county emergency resources, including the Cookeville Police Department and Cookeville Regional Medical Center. We have excellent, close relationships with local, state and regional emergency personnel.

I hope these details help you understand the efforts we have invested in planning for an emergency. While we cannot address every possible scenario, our plan allows us to build in options for different types of emergencies.

This information and much more is available on the campus emergency response planning website at http://www.tntech.edu/publicaffairs/emgncy/emer_response.html

We have also gathered some useful information for you to use while talking to your students about the situation. I hope you have a chance to review the following links with helpful information.

Sincerely,
Robert Bell
President

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