After the Virginia Tech campus was thrown into terror and chaos Monday, University of Wisconsin officials were left scrambling to contact five graduate students and three faculty members that were on the Virginia Tech campus.
The group from the UW Electrical Engineering Department is safe, however, and was contacted by department chair Parmesh Ramanathan Monday afternoon, according to UW communications.
The group was working on a research collaboration with Virginia Tech and three other universities, and will return to Madison today.
"Our hearts go out to the students, faculty and staff," UW Dean of Students Lori Berquam said. "This is a tragedy of epic proportions. … We recognize that there could be faculty and staff here — either by friends or colleagues — affected by it."
Virginia Tech officials reported 33 dead Monday with dozens more injured, and the situation was an all-too-real reminder to campus administrators of the dangers presented by a shooting scenario.
"I think we've got an outstanding crisis response protocol," Berquam said. "You never know what you're going to be thrown into, but we're confident."
According to UW Police Department Sgt. Michael Newton, UW reworked its response procedure after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 and developed an "active shooter protocol" to seek out assailants.
Newton said UW has procedures in place if a shooting were to happen on campus, adding police officers are continually practicing and updating courses of action.
"We are continuing practicing and updating staff with facilities on campus," Newton said. "We would immediately respond and actively search for the suspect."
UWPD Sgt. Jason Whitney said the active shooter training would split responders into four-man groups to comb hallways and classrooms in a tight circle to cover a 360-degree area.
Hours after the shootings, administrators and police at Virginia Tech were already being criticized for their decisions and their ability to breach doors that may have been barricaded by the shooter. According to Whitney, each individual situation demands a specific type of response, though he said UWPD has resources and people trained to enter barricades and break through blocked doors.
"Each incident would be different," Whitney said. "You can't really say if you would or would not go into lockdown."
In the face of a similar situation, Berquam said a team would gather to weigh the advantages and disadvantages to locking the campus down, including considering the input of a "crisis commander."
Newton said if students feel insecure in a situation, they should immediately leave the area, call 911 and seek shelter. He said the students seen at Virginia Tech taking pictures and video of the events were in danger and should have moved to a safe location.
When asked of concern over a copycat situation occurring at UW, Berquam said it is almost inconceivable.
"This is a huge tragedy. I would hope we'd be focusing on getting people impacted in Virginia through it," Berquam said. "I would want to focus on the healing and grieving. I can't imagine anyone trying to replicate it — it's so tragic."
As students begin to recover from the emotional trauma after living through the event, UW psychiatry professor Burr Eichelman said they should focus on interpersonal relationships and regaining control of their environment rather than taking "the Valium and scotch approach."
"It's a human condition to ask, 'How did this happen and why did it happen?'" Eichelman said. "Some things are just unpredictable and we can't know. For human beings, that's a real hard thing to deal with."
