Thursday, October 1 was my second day of class as a writing instructor at a community college in Oregon.
Following the shooting that occurred at Umpqua Community College on Thursday, where 10 people were killed, I realized that as a new hire, I hadnât been fully informed on my collegeâs emergency protocols. What should I do in the event of what we now call, with heartbreaking regularity, an active shooter situation? According to my schoolâs Emergency Response Guide, I should attempt to evacuate my students if it is deemed safe to do so. My classroom is on the third floor; to evacuate we would need to descend two flights down an open staircase, and exit through a wide lobby. We would need to know with absolute certainty that the active shooter was not on the third floor, or the second, or anywhere in the lobby. In other words, evacuation, my first course of action, seems highly unlikely.
The next option, according to my college, is to lock the door. This unfortunately is not possible, as the door to my classroom can only be locked with a key, a key that I do not have and wonât ever be given. Left, then, in my third-floor classroom with its unlocked door, I am instructed to turn off the lights and lower the blinds, to use the tables to build a barricade, and get everyone out of the line of fire. I am further instructed to âarm [myself] with classroom items (e.g., stapler, chair, fire extinguisher) to fight back with in the event that the shooter attempts to enter [my] room.â
In the next paragraph, I am told what to do if that shooter does in fact enter our classroom: âThere is no one procedure that can be recommended in this situation,â the manual informs me with grim honesty, before adding, â[i]f you must fight, fight to win and survive.â
Fight to survive. I am a teacher, with a masterâs degree in creative writing, and this is part of my job.
As a former college professor, let me tell you, it is terrifying to look at a room full of students and realize that beyond your expected responsibility for their mental and emotional safety for the 1-3 hours they are in your class that comes with the job, you are also responsible for their lives. That it might very well be up to you to keep them from dying while theyâre in your Intro to Subject class.
I imagine there are few college professors in the US who didnât hear the story, if not the name of Dr. Librescu, a Romanian Holocaust survivor who barred the door with his own body during the Virginia Tech shooting to save his students. Weâve all had to ask ourselves âWould I do the same thing?â
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