If Disaster Strikes, Is Your Campus Ready?

Thursday, November 15, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

John M. Nicholas, vice president for administration and treasurer at Beloit College, has been an advocate for improved disaster planning at colleges for many years. He says his interest intensified after he attended a weeklong emergency-training course at a Federal Emergency Management Agency site in Maryland. By the end of 2001 he was pressing for his own college's administrators to go through the same kind of simulated drill that he had completed, which it did. "The course taught me how overwhelming it can be to handle these situations and how ill-prepared colleges are for emergencies," he said at the time. In late October, Beloit's Wisconsin campus was the site of another mock-disaster drill, which brought together officials from more than 50 local, state, and federal agencies.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Goldie Blumenstyk (Moderator):
    Good day everyone and welcome to the Brown Bag. I'm Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer here at The Chronicle and I'll be the moderator for today's online chat. We're thrilled to have John Nicholas as our guest today. As you may know, his college, Beloit, recently undertook a major mock-emergency exercise to test the institution's readiness for disasters, and he's here today to answer your questions about what colleges can do to be better prepared. So if you have questions, please send them along.

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
    John, Any opening thoughts?

John M. Nicholas:
    Remember, it's not that "it can't happen here, it can".

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
    Ok, I'll start off with a question I've had for a while: Your recent mock disaster involved dozens of agencies and elaborate scenarios. Is this kind of thing overkill?

John M. Nicholas:
    No because it gave the responding agencies an opportunity to work together.

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
    What are some of the basic questions colleges should be asking themselves -- and answering -- about their state of readiness for a flood, or even worse, a major incident of violence or sabotage?

John M. Nicholas:
    We can never be prepared for a natural disaster or a major incident. To me, the most important matter is to have the right people prepared to execute the proper policies and procedures at the right time. Everyone at the institution has a role whether large or small.

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
    Was there something that you learned during that exercise that surprised you? And was that anything that other colleges should be thinking about as well?

John M. Nicholas:
    What surprised me was how the institution serves as both a venue and as a participant. The responders have multiple tasks that are semi-independent and distinct from those of the administration and they occur simultaneously during an incident. Comunication within the institution and outside of the institution cannot be overstated.

Question from Leslie Chapman, Lake Forest College:
    Good Morning John, what emergency notification system are you using? and what important lessons did you learn that you would share with us?

John M. Nicholas:
    For this exercise, we used an "Internet Hotline," email, posters, a letter to parents, and "town hall" meetings with students. In a real emergency, we won't have that luxury and are considering everything from bull horns to emergency speakers, etc. We're attempting to not rely on technology unless absolutely necessary and will use technology as an adjunct to human intervention.

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
    Who are the key "emergency response" people at your institution?

John M. Nicholas:
    The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is staffed by the President (Incident Commander), the Dean of Students, the Director of Security, the Public Information Officer, and the Director of Physical Plant. They are charged with making the critical decisions during an incident.

Question from Hope Tyson-Rabe & Angie Potter, MCTC:
    In doing the mock-disaster excercises, what did you find to be the weakest area? Were faculty, staff, and students made aware of the mock crisis in advance? If not, how did you handle those who took it as a serious crisis?

John M. Nicholas:
    Since this exercise was planned two years ago, we had the luxury of having the table top and functional exercises on campus so the college community was aware of our planning for the event. We had regular emails and notifications to the college community so no was was surprised. Our weakest area was our Public Information function in dealing with the media (both mock and real). Getting out correct and timely information is vital to success and we struggled with that aspect.

Goldie Blumenstyk (Moderator):
    Okay folks, we're about halfway through, so if you have questions for John, please send them on now

Question from Lt. Ron Swartz, Univ. of Alaska:
    What on-campus emergency resources did you use? Where did the funding come from, for moulage and other exercise materials?

John M. Nicholas:
    First, moulage is derived from the French for make-up and is applied by nurses to simulate burns, abrasions, broken bones, etc.

Second, we used our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) which is a specifically identified room in the lower level of one of our classroom buildings that can be converted from a classroom to EOC within 30 minutes. We store the equipment (phones, fax, computer, etc) in an adjacent, locked room. We also used our main dining facility to feed participants during the exercise (approximately 150 people), and other rooms for moaulage application and had security vans serving as transport vehicles for whatever purpose.

Third, the funding came from a Homeland Security grant through the Wisconsin State Department of Justice and the exercise was facilitated by State Controllers. The grant included funding for personnel overtime (police, fire, paramedics, etc), for supplies, and for a videographer as the State intends to use the film once edited and narrated as a training tool.

Question from Shawn Brown, Hiram College:
    Effective communications is critical during an emergency or crisis. Where or when is it likely for communications to break, and how do you prevent that from happening?

John M. Nicholas:
    To me there are several forms of communication.

The first is within the institution and between the institution and its counterparts in the City's Emergency Operations Center, if open, or the Incident Commander in the field (police, fire, etc.)

The second is between the institution and the public and media. This is critical and the institution must have a well defined Public Information function to get the right person in front of the TV cameras at the right time saying the right things. It will make or break the institution's credibility.

Finally, there is the communication between the responders which is occurring simultaneously and over which the institution has no control. The responders must constantly pratice how to communicate between them so as not to overload 911 dispatch and upset Unified Command functions.

Question from Shawn Brown, Hiram College:
    How do you involve your local police/fire or health agencies in your planning? Are any college employees encouraged to seek formal emergency response training like Community Emergency Response Team training (https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm)?

John M. Nicholas:
    Actually the grant application for the exercise was initiated by our City's Fire Chief and the application received the endorsement of our county Emergency Management Coordinator. Once the grant was awarded, the State Controllers took over. I have been through the Emergency Management Institute and have three addional FEMA certifications. I am encouraging our personnel assigned to the EOC to receive training and I'll be attending a "Train the Trainer" certification course in August so I can train internally.

Question from Dan VanKeeken, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
    How long did it take to get organized with all the agencies for the exercise?

John M. Nicholas:
    We began the planning in March of 2005. We has the table top exercise in March 2007, the Functional Exercise in June, and the Full-Scale in October. The County Coordinator and the State Controllers coodinated the other agencies with our local authorities throughout the planning.

Question from Sam Simon Director of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, St. Louis University:
    Do you have a Crisis Management Team that meets regularly for planning purposes ? If so, who participates ?

John M. Nicholas:
    Yes. We have Emeregency Operations Center (EOC) personnel who meet periodically. Since our October exercise, we recognize the need for policy and procedure development in many aspects and will attempt to meet on a quarterly basis.

Question from Goldie Blumenstyk:
     Given that we know that disasters, violent incidents, and emergencies can strike, are there liability issues for colleges if they haven't taken preparedness steps? Do you have any sense that this liability might be greater now, in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech?

John M. Nicholas:
    No more so than what has been occurring during the past two decades. Virginia Tech, in my opinion, "woke up" the country to what has been going on for many years in a variety of forms. On the liability matter, I would check with your insurance company to see if they provide any incentives, guidelines, etc. I believe a lawsuit would occur when you don't perform appropriately during a crisis whether you're technically prepared ot not.

Question from Dan VanKeeken, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
    Could you suggest good training films, DVDs, programs available for emergency preparedness in our post-secondary context?

John M. Nicholas:
    I would go to the FEMA web site (www.fema.gov) as well as the SCUP website (Society for College and University Planners).

Question from David Silberman, Stanford University School of Medicine:
    We have 93 separate administrative and academic departments and divisions, spread over more than 20 buildings and four locations (~ 3 mile radius). I am thinking of asking departments to hold individual table top exercises based on a single scenario. Based on those results, I would then hold an exercise just for the School's Emergency Management Team (EMT). Is this an appropriate approach or should I try to have one single exercise (departments and EMT)?

John M. Nicholas:
    Personally I would have one exercise rather than several. I assume you will generally have the same emergency operations center personnel (EMT) regardless of the location or type of incident. Similar to Unified Command in the field, I encourage you to use a unified approach and have one exercise perhaps with multiple scenarios that would touch upon various aspects of the campus especially if you have a hospital.

Question from Mahauganee Shaw:
    As a follow-up to the three types of communication you identified: What about communicating with campus constituents? It seems that clear, precise, and timely communication with employees, students and parents. That didn't seem to be mentioned, as they would not fall into the "public" category.

John M. Nicholas:
    Absolutely they should be included. Also, if there was an evacuation, we need concise procedures to communicate this or to shelter in place.

Question from Mahauganee Shaw:
    What lessons were learned about post-emergency needs? For example, if the campus emergency results in having constituents scattered about, how do you effectively communicate important messages to reach everyone?

John M. Nicholas:
    For our college, 92% of our students live on campus unlike a large university that has a large commuter and resident population. VA Tech encountered that problem. Again I return to the Public Information component which suggests that television appears to be the most effective medium. Radio is a close second with email and cell phones as a last resort.

Question from Erin, The Chronicle:
    In such a transient setting, how much emphasis should be placed on educating the college community about a disaster plan without overdoing it? How is it best communicated and, if necessary, practiced? Is it necessary?

John M. Nicholas:
    What I'm attempting to create is a "short list" of action steps to be followed by everyone at the College. For EOC members, faculty, staff and students need to know 2 or three 3 actions to get them to safety. Once safe, we would communicate next steps but getting everyone to safety is a prime directive.

Question from Dan VanKeeken, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
    We've got about 8,000 full-time students on our urban campus, and wonder about how to communicate with all these students when something goes wrong: fire, disaster, or worst case, Virgina Tech scenario...

John M. Nicholas:
    I would have two plans, one for commuters and one for residents. In the case of commuters, you could have posters prepared to be distributed by police and/or security personnel who would be manning barricades assuming students, faculty, and staff are prevented from entering the campus. If you have a campus tv and or radio station, it would be a good tool to provide information for commuters and residents alike. It's a tough issue.

Goldie Blumenstyk (Moderator):
    Thanks folks, that's all the time we have for today.

The Brown Bag will be off next week for Thanksgiving but returns on November 29 for a chat about how colleges and companies can forge better collaboration,s and on December 6 with an search-firm consultant to answer your questions on the ins and outs of getting a management post in higher education. Please tune in again for those.

On behalf of The Chronicle, I'd like to thank John for his time and expertise, and all of you for those great questions .

John M. Nicholas:
    Thanks for the opportunity to share my experience with you