In the aftermath of the shootingslast Monday at Virginia Tech, De AnzaCollege students and faculty membersfound themselves wondering howprepared their college would be todeal with such an incident.

Despite the presence of the VirginiaTech police, with over 30 activeofficers and two detectives, and theimmediate responses of local policedepartments and SWAT teams, ChoSeung Hui was able to kill 32 peopleat two locations on the VT campusduring the 3-hour long ordeal.

Many have suggested the size ofthe college, the unpredictability ofsuch incidents, and the chaos theyoften involve contributed to the scaleof the tragedy.

At De Anza, the administratortasked with answering theseformidable challenges is JeanineHawk, VP of Finance and CollegeServices and Director of EmergencyOperations. “De Anza College has aformalized plan to respond to suchattacks, and we actually convenedyesterday to review it,” said HawkWednesday. “We first activate ourcrisis action team and open anemergency operations center. Thisteam then decides whether to enactwhat is called a SIMS protocol – aprocedure for emergency managementthat we’ve adopted.”

In an e-mail addressed to faculty,De Anza President Brian Murphysaid, “I am confident that at DeAnza, we are prepared to act quickly,decisively and effectively for thesafety of all our students, faculty andstaff.” Murphy went on to discuss ameeting with the Crisis Action Teamand the drills “we must undergo” toensure emergency preparedness.

Incidents such as the Columbineshootings and the 2001 bomb scareat De Anza led the college to hire asecurity consultant to develop theprocedures, as well as create theFoothill-De Anza Police Department.

“We’re a far sight better than wewere in 1999,” said District PoliceChief Ron Levine. “The awarenesslevel has come up considerably.” Thecrisis team at De Anza consists ofsenior administrators, district policerepresentatives, the college’s directorof marketing, and its director ofcollege services.

“The first thing we do isimmediately call 911 and get thelocal police involved. From there, thechallenge is to take what informationyou have, even if it’s incomplete,and give a response as quickly aspossible,” said Hawk.

To build its preparedness, theteam undergoes annual drills,including a full scenario two yearsago that involved instructors, as well.Hawk’s advice to students was “tofollow instructions, whether froman administrator, a policemen or ateacher.”

More information can be found atwww.deanza.edu/emergency.