OXFORD, Miss. – Students at the University of Mississippi
and other college campuses should not hesitate to call the
police if they suspect another student or faculty member
could commit a violent act, says a UM criminal justice
professor who has written extensively on the subject of
school safety.
In light of recent shootings at campuses in Illinois and
Arkansas, Chester Quarles said students have a collective
responsibility to act and diffuse potentially violent
situations.
“A lot of times people hear comments like, ‘I’m going to
kill that son of a gun,’ or ‘I’m going to lose my
scholarship because that stupid professor is going to flunk
me,'” Quarles said. “It’s easy to go into denial when you
hear those comments and think that person would never
actually act on their words. But that is exactly when we
need to give a lot of credit to the threat and to try to
diffuse the situation.”
UM administrators and law enforcement officials have
developed a broad alert system that will notify students,
faculty and staff of dangerous situations on campus,
Quarles said. As far as policy, the university is doing all
it can do, he said. The rest of the responsibility falls to
the people who are out in the classrooms and on campus each
day.
More than 8,800 UM students and faculty have signed up for
a system that will send a text message in the event of an
emergency, said David Drewrey, director of the
Telecommunications Center. The text message system, which
was chosen after testing the capabilities of several
vendors, is up and running and administrators used it for
the first time several weeks ago when tornadoes came
through Lafayette County.
“It was a good first test of the system, and we were able
to work out a few things,” Drewrey said. “It assured us
that we could reach people in the event of an on-campus
emergency.”
Drewrey added he would like to see more people sign up for
the system but is encouraged by the enrollment so far.
Quarles encourages students, faculty and staff to report
anyone carrying a gun on campus to the University Police
Department because the officers are trained to
appropriately investigate and deal with potentially violent
situations.
“The investigation itself demonstrates that we are serious
about safety and are going to do all we can to protect the
university,” he said.
He added that the university is uniquely equipped to deal
with these situations because of the numerous counseling
and help organizations on campus.
“I think we are doing all we can,” he said. “We just need
to continue to take threats seriously and act responsibly.”
Quarles has studied and written extensively on school
violence, including the books “Staying Safe at School: What
You Need to Know” (Corwin Press) for teachers and
administrators, “Staying Safe at School” (Broadman and
Holman) for students, and “School Violence: A Survival
Guide for School Staff With Emphasis on Robbery, Rape, and
Hostage Taking” for the National Education Association.
Quarles has worked with Crisis Consulting International and
is an internationally recognized authority on the avoidance
of terrorism, kidnapping and guerrilla assault. Contact him
at 662-915-5413 or cquarles@olemiss.edu.