“Good luck and give them hell,” wrote James Oliver Seevakumaran, the 30-year-old business major who planned to attack UCF in March of last year.
UCF’s close call is just one of 74 school-related shootings that happened on or near school campuses in the past 18 months, according to a study done by Everytown for Gun Safety. That’s over four shootings a month, meaning about one per week.
UCF is the nation’s second-largest university based on enrollment. It has about 60,000 students, which basically puts a giant target on the school for potential attacks.
UCF added a preparation class in 2009, which most students don’t know about and only about 2.8 percent of students and faculty have utilized since 2012.
The class is called “Shots Fired on Campus: When Lightning Strikes.” The class is offered by the Center for Personal Protection and Safety and teaches attendees decision-making skills in a crisis situation.
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The class is offered by request only and is aimed to prepare students and faculty for the chance of an attack made on UCF campus and teaches what to do and expect. The next class is scheduled to be offered Aug. 8.
The class has had about 2,000 student and faculty participants since 2012. When you add up UCF’s estimated 60,000 students and 11,000 estimated employees those 2,000 participants equal out to be a tiny 2.8 percent.
In light of the April 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, which killed 32 people and wounded 17 others, UCF revamped its emergency program and added the class in 2009.
After that shooting, Courtney Gilmartin, a UCF spokeswoman said that the colleges across the nation, including UCF, began rethinking their security and started being more proactive.
“We’re lucky we have a police station on campus. We patrol campus 24/7 so there’s not an hour of the day where there’s not a UCF police officer around this campus and that’s huge,” Gilmartin said. “That’s the key to safety.”
She said the class, which will soon be online for students and faculty to view at anytime, helps educate you on UCF’s alert system and prepare you for the worst case scenario—an active shooter.
“There’s only so much you can do if it’s happening to you,” Gilmartin said. “This class teaches you to think smartly if you are ever faced with that situation.”
Ari Schein, the UCF emergency management training and exercise coordinator, is one of leaders who teach the Shots Fired on Campus course. He works closely with UCF police to educate goers about the UCF alert system and prepare for a shooter on campus.
He said he’s taught the class about 40 to 50 times per year but participation isn’t great. He’s hoping the online move will create enthusiasm for the program.
“I was offering it monthly on the last Friday of the month but we didn’t have good enough participation to keep it going,” Schein said.
Gilmartin said that UCF’s safety and security is an ongoing constant effort. She said that the safety of UCF doesn’t just rely on faculty and the police, but also on students and parents.
“If you see something that look suspicious you need to say something because we’re not living in an age anywhere where that doesn’t matter. Saying something is a matter of saving lives,” Gilmartin said. “Sometimes we read these reports about these things that have happened and it’s like ‘how could no one have known.’”
