In light of the recent incidents on campuses all around the country it would be good to get to know what procedures Allen Community College has for the safety of its students. Ryan Bilderback, director of student life, and Cynthia Jacobson, vice president for student affairs, are some of the key faculty members working toward finding ways to improve campus safety.

The two most recent topics being discussed are the ALICE training held on campus for all staff and faculty and also a new communication system being put in place called RAVE.

Earlier this year on October 23, 46 Allen employees participated in the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) training. ALICE is a nationally recognized program and was presented by the Allen County Sheriff’s Department.

ALICE’s purpose is to teach individuals how to handle the threat of an active shooter or any other violent intruder and tips on how to survive and lead others to safety.

“During the training, instructors were taught different instructions on how to defend themselves whether it was using common items frequently found in classrooms for self-defense, how to barricade doorways, or overall how to keep others safe and finding a way out,” Bilderback said.

The other new addition to campus safety that students will see is the communication system called RAVE. The system comes from Rave Mobile Safety and serves as an early alert system that allows the school to send updates and important news through text messages and email directly to students and faculty. This will be used for updates on anything from school offices being closed due to power outages, weather conditions, threats on campus or in the surrounding areas.

“The new communication system, RAVE, is something that students and faculty can expect to be put into place in the near future, even as soon as the end of this semester,” Jacobson said.

As far as other forms of security on campus, Bilderback commented that just because there may not be any on campus security officers, the school still works closely with the Iola Police Department to monitor the safety of its students. He said, “In the span of over the next 5 years, I believe there will be some sort of security in the form of a person on campus.”

Overall, students should know that Allen is constantly working on ways to improve safety and making the environment here on campus a safe one. There are even plans for an additional ALICE training coming up in the spring semester and, as Bilderback says, “Things are definitely heading in the right direction.”