SGA Holds Safety Panel With Administration -

Lawrence Morris displays the timeline of the events of December's shelter in place situations during the safety panel facilitated by SGA. — Lawrence Morris displays the timeline of the events of December’s shelter in place situations during the safety panel facilitated by SGA.

By John Connolly

The Student Government Association (SGA) held a safety panel on Monday, February 1, 2016 to review safety and recent security events at the university.

The panel was comprised of both students and administrators from various departments who responded to questions and gave feedback to the student panel.

From SGA, the panel was comprised of Vice President James Benedek, senior senator Matt Hanrahan, junior senators Stephen Morris and Rachel Vierra, and freshmen senators James Harrington and Aaron Mackisey.
The panel of administrators included Frank Persico, Chief-of-Staff to the President, Thomasine Johnson, Associate Vice President of Public Safety, Luke Alar, director of the Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Lawrence Morris, general counsel to the university, Kathryn Jennings, associate Dean of Students, and Dr. Mike Allen, the Vice President of Student Affairs.

During the panel, much attention was given to the shelter in place incidents that occurred this past December. General Counsel Morris conducted an investigation into the events of December 7th and 8th. He compiled a detailed timeline and explained what exactly took place during the time when it was believed an armed gunman was on campus.

According to the investigation, during the first incident with a custodial worker being held at gunpoint in Pangborn Hall, DPS officers were alerted by a custodial supervisor and responded within 30 minutes. Metropolitan Police were on the scene 9 minutes after that. But it was not until 2 hours later that the office of Public Affairs was notified, and it took another 30 minutes to alert the university community that a shelter in place was called.

During the second incident, the alert was sent out within 10 minutes of DPS being notified. Lawrence Morris said that the response on the first night “should not have taken that long.” He also said that the primary goal for possible future emergencies is to get information out to the community with specific instructions on what to do.

Persico said that plans are underway to hold a safety week. During this time, sessions for students and faculty would be offered to ensure everyone is aware of what would occur for certain emergencies. Persico also said that Catholic University would hold its required annual emergency drill, something many on the panel feel need to be held more often and at various times.

Students, both on the panel and in the audience, were happy that the event took place.

Harrington felt that is was a success. “I was happy that we had an opportunity to have this discussion with the administration. Their trust in us, as a student body, was visible and I was part to be a part of it,” Harrington said.

“I thought the panel was great! I felt like it was a very fruitful conversation from which we all learned a lot!” said Kately Javier, a junior who also felt that the event was informative and beneficial.

Javier said what she liked most “was the fact that we all had the opportunity to share all our fears and questions. Especially with how touchy the topic is it was great to see we could come together, students and administrators, for the good and safety of the whole.”

President Garvey will hold a town hall meeting on Monday night at 7 PM, allowing students to enter into discussion and ask questions about things on campus.