State-operated universities have active-shooter safety plans
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees the 14 state-operated universities, does not require the campuses to have security plans for active shooters, but they all do, a spokesman said.
The system also does not provide any standard set of guidelines or review the active shooter plans. Rather, the universities do their own emergency planning, working with the chancellor’s office and sharing information about best practices, spokesman Kenn Marshall said.
The universities all employ trained police officers authorized to carry firearms. They must pass the same certification requirements as municipal police officers and undergo regular retraining, he said.
“We provide the universities with advice, not mandates,” Marshall said. “They do it because they are concerned about student safety and these are the right things to do. They, like everyone else, hear about the shootings. They don’t want that to happen on their campuses, but it can happen anywhere.”
More than 110,000 students are enrolled at the universities in Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.