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Since 1966, there have been nine mass shootings on college campuses, with six taking place in the last 15 years.

Since the start of the 21st century, shootings on college campuses have risen consistently. A 2016 study by the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City found that between the academic years of 2001-02 to 2005-06 and 2011-12 and 2015-16, shooting incidents on or near college campuses increased by over 150% and fatalities by over 240%.

Joshua Horwitz, co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University, said that shootings at universities are part of a bigger problem with gun violence in the U.S.

“Unfortunately, what I think you see in universities is a microcosm of what’s going on in the larger society, and it’s a tragedy of death in the United States because of guns,” Horwitz said. “There’s lots of opportunities to reduce gun violence, if we have the will.”

Sarah Scalese, Syracuse University’s senior associate vice president for communications, said the university is constantly engaged in training in order to ensure the campus community knows how to handle a possible mass shooting event.

“There’s nothing more important… than being prepared and looking at other cases, and then figuring out how to evolve and adapt our own response protocols,” Scalese said. “I think that’s why so many folks are involved in these different trainings all the time.”

One of those other cases occurred over two weeks ago, when Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a student and former football player at the University of Virginia, allegedly shot and killed three football players and injured two others at the University of Virginia. Jones faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony.

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Four days after the UVA shooting, SU and the FBI office in Albany together hosted active shooter training for university faculty and staff in Hendricks Chapel.

Craig Stone, chief of Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety, told The Daily Orange that DPS’s Crime Prevention Unit provided 56 officer training sessions, including active shooter response, between Aug. 1 and Nov. 22.

“It’s important to train… stop, (and) respond to an active shooter threat, and make sure we have the resources, equipment and training to continue to do that,” Stone said.

July trainings, which took place in Sadler Hall, put officers and dispatchers through “stressful situations and scenarios,” Stone said, designed based on best practices and prior knowledge of mass shooting attacks. Syracuse Police Department Lt. Matthew Malinowski said SPD and DPS have similar training and have worked “very well” with DPS in previous cases.

“We are definitely at a heightened awareness, so it’s something that’s always on the top of our minds, even … as rare as it is,” Malinowski said.

DPS has plans to respond immediately to any on-campus shooting which may occur by sending out an order of notice through the OrangeAlert app, which provides up-to-date safety updates and information on campus events. Stone said the first person on scene is in charge of stopping the threat.

Stone and Scalese both also said they encourage students to practice the “run, hide, fight” model in crisis situations.

Active shooter protocols for schools changed significantly after the April 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which two teenagers killed 13 people and wounded 20 others before taking their own lives, Malinowski said.

“You don’t typically have us waiting anymore for the special weapons and tactics teams with the shields or the special armored vehicles,” Malinowski said. “You, as a police officer, are expected to go in.”

Allen Groves, SU’s senior vice president and chief student experience officer, said the idea of “threat assessment” became prominent after a 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech which left 27 students and five faculty members dead.

Groves said DPS’s threat assessment management team can evaluate certain students, faculty and staff based on their conduct if a complaint is reported through a DPS reporting outlet, which can potentially result in an interim suspension. Because SU is a private university, Groves said, it can establish a clear policy that forbids weapons on university-owned or controlled property.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in August announced new concealed carry laws that prohibit handguns, rifles and shotguns in colleges and universities after the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. The ruling required state residents looking to carry a handgun in public to present a “special need for self-defense,” such as a pattern of receiving physical threats, according to the ruling.

Jake Morel, an SU sophomore, said college students are becoming “desensitized” by the frequency of mass shootings across the country.

“These mass shootings are not normal by any means, but they’re so frequent here in the U.S. that I fear our youth will start to believe that they are,” Morel said.

Six mass shootings, which collectively resulted in 27 victims and 24 injuries, have taken place in the US since the UVA shooting on Nov. 13, according to a database which USAToday compiled in partnership with The Associated Press and Northeastern University.

Though he has confidence in DPS’s preparation to respond to an active shooter threat, Morel said it’s difficult for DPS to “inspire confidence” in ensuring student safety outside of testing the university emergency alert systems.

Allison Myers, an SU sophomore, said the lack of change has led to gun violence becoming more common.

“It’s a bad trend, and every incident makes a violent act seem more common,” Myers said. “No major rules are being made to prevent or deter these incidents.”

Horwitz described the lack of change to address gun violence as “maddening.” He said to address gun violence, the US needs policies to make it harder to access guns and greater investments in communities most impacted by gun violence.

“There’s plenty of answers to this,” Horwitz said. “ We can do this if people focus on it, if we invest the resources, (and) do it. I don’t know any other problem where investment would be more worthwhile than this problem.”

Published on December 1, 2022 at 1:02 am