After Blacksburg's darkest day, GBC schools give a second look at campus safety

DULUTH — In the wake of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, leaders at Georgia Baptist colleges reevaluated campus security to calm fears among students and parents.

“We have a security plan in place we dust off from time to time,” said Terry Caywood, vice president of administrative services at Truett-McConnell College. “The day after the shootings at Virginia Tech, we met with the Cleveland Police Department to make sure our communications are together and for them to have an up-to-date layout of our campus and buildings.”

Georgia Baptists’ other two colleges, Shorter and Brewton-Parker, have also been in contact with local authorities to update emergency response protocol.

Located in Rome, Shorter College has the most urban location of the three schools. A guard is posted at the only entrance onto campus from sunset to sunrise, said director of institutional relations Dawn Tolbert. Campus security is on call round-the-clock.

Truett-McConnell also has a guard house at its only entry point. If there’s an alert, the campus is locked down from that point, said Caywood.

Security is also active 24 hours at Brewton-Parker in Mt. Vernon. School president David Smith said the tragedy at Virginia Tech will serve as a guideline in future changes.

“The first thing we did was pull out our crisis response manual and meet with our Director of Crisis Response Management Charles Strickland and other BPC officers,” said Smith. “We’ll revise that document from the perspective of the Virginia Tech incident.

“This update will likely take one to six months, because we want to be deliberative in that process. We already have procedures in place for [emergency situations] and student and faculty communications.”

Similar methods to alert students in case of emergency are used by all the schools. Shorter uses email and a phone chain to spread information. Truett and Brewton-Parker also use email. Brewton-Parker’s commuters – half of those in class in Mt. Vernon drive to school – can receive alerts on an electronic sign on the main highway into campus as well as through radio accounts.

“Anytime you’re in a public environment, people can wander on campus,” said Caywood. “We’re trying not to overreact in the process, but learn how to correctly communicate our security plan.”

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