Bookmark & share:

E-mail this page E-mail a letter to the editor Reader Comments (below)

BY JOSIE HUANG
MaineToday Media, Inc. 04/17/2008

MaineToday Media, Inc.

In the year since the student shootings at Virginia Tech, Maine colleges have invested in high-tech systems that send alerts to students via text and e-mail.

At the Statehouse, gun-control advocates are pushing a bill that creates greater state oversight of firearm sales.

But college junior Megan Mattor is concerned the massacre is fading from public view. She and her friends were disappointed by the turnout for Wednesday's event in Portland to protest handgun laws and commemorate the slain students.

"I was really surprised that not more people were here," said Mattor, who, with 22 other participants, lay on the USM quad in Portland as part of a national "lie-in," using their bodies to form a "V" and "T." "Either people didn't know about the event or don't think about it."

It was April 16 a year ago when Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 fellow students, then himself, stirring the national debate over gun control and forcing college officials to reassess school security.

At Virginia Tech, students paid tribute during the day at a ceremony and moment of silence for the victims who died in the nation's worst mass shooting in modern history.

But in Maine, which hasn't had any major instance of campus violence, students were not dwelling much about Virginia Tech, or the shootings that took place at Northern Illinois University in February.

"In New England, it's such a mellow attitude," said USM senior Brendan Cassidy. "I think most people on the average feel pretty safe here."

That attitude is creating a dilemma for some colleges that have adopted high-tech alert systems: People are not signing up.

At the University of Maine, where the new system has been in place since last summer, just a third of the campus has opted to receive notices, said school spokesman Joe Carr.

"As far as I know, every college and university is facing a level of disappointment with the number of people in the community who are subscribing to systems like this," Carr said.

Carr said incoming freshman will be urged to join during orientation this summer.

"One hundred percent is our goal," Carr said. "We think the percentage will grow as time moves along."

The University of Maine uses a system from e2Campus, as do other schools in the UMaine system, USM, Maine Maritime Academy and Husson College. Bowdoin College bought a similar system from Blackboard Connect before the Virginia Tech killings.

With the lackluster interest in the new alert systems, schools are counting on old-fashioned warning devices as backup.

UMaine, for example, every Monday at noon tests its siren "just to let people know what it sounds like and to make sure it's working properly," Carr said.

UNE, while working on buying a high-tech alert system, also plans to install a loudspeaker system next month, said Don Clark, director of safety and security. USM bought new radio equipment for campus police and is considering installing sirens in classrooms and corridors.

Schools also are trying to keep student shootings from ever happening by better identifying students who are at a risk to themselves and others. Clark said UNE has added more people to its "campus risk assessment" team, which includes administrators, security staff as well as counselors.

Both Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman, and Steven Kazmierczak, the shooter at Northern Illinois, had histories of mental illness, according to authorities.

Cho's rampage led to the creation of a bill in Maine that aims to keep guns from people found to be mentally ill by a court. The measure would direct the state to send that information to a federal database used by licensed gun dealers to run background checks.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, was passed by the House of Representatives and was awaiting consideration in the Senate on Wednesday night, exactly a year after the massacre.

"The timing is unbelievable," said William Harwood, a Portland lawyer and co-founder of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence. "This is a wonderful confluence of events that was not planned."

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

jhuang@pressherald.com

Bookmark and share this story: