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News

Campus safety the hot topic

Kotarba sends condolences to Va. Tech; 
Members call for a UH evacuation plan 

by JARED BARNES
The Daily Cougar

A moment of silence for victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy was the prelude to expressions of condolences and questions about campus security at the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday in Farish Hall. 

President Joseph Kotarba read from a hand-written letter he had sent to Virginia Tech Faculty Senate President Kerry Redican expressing the shared mourning of the UH community and offering support.

"The faculty of the University of Houston are profoundly saddened by the terrible tragedy you experienced.  As teachers and mentors ourselves, we share your sorrow and feel for your loss," he read. "We are confident, though, that the faculty at Virginia Tech will be a source of strength for your entire community as you heal and move forward. You are in our hearts and in our prayers."

UH President Jay Gogue encouraged the Senate to think about the Virginia Tech incident and about what UH could do to successfully prevent situations like it at the University.

"Preventative measures are the best answer," Gogue said.

In regard to campus safety, Faculty Senate members were concerned with UH's lack of a procedure to evacuate the entire campus.

The Senate addressed this need and discussed ways to set up an infrastructure capable of carrying out such a procedure.

A proposal will be available next week for a single speaker system serving campus buildings so the entire campus can be alerted of emergencies, Associate Vice President for Plant Operations Dave Irvin said.

UH Police Department Chief Malcolm Davis said Virginia Tech's police department did they best it could under the circumstances.

"(Virgina Tech police) did the same thing we would have done," he said. 

Counseling and Psychological Services distributed brochures on its services, and the dean of students office disseminated to the Senate a pamphlet titled "Dealing with Disruptive Student Behavior."

UH Fire Marshall Bob Bowden made a "Have an Exit Strategy" presentation to encourage campus awareness about the program in case there is a fire or any other type of emergency that would require UH students and faculty to hastily exit buildings.

In other business, the Texas Legislature has reversed the 10 percent budget decrease for funding of Texas universities, which is good news for UH, Gogue said.

"The No 1 priority (for this session) was to get reinstated the 10 percent budget cut that the governor had placed on all state agencies. … The 10 percent budget cut has been reinstated in both the House and the Senate budget," he said. "You might say, ‘Well, that's not a big deal,' but there are many state agencies where they did not reinstate the 10 percent budget cut, so the universities were able to prevail in that article."

The Legislature is also considering heath fund issues, tuition revenue bond bills and tuition regulation, which could affect UH.

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