University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Chancellor Anderson: Are there any persons in the audience that need interpreting? Thank you for being here. I will make a very brief statement about the events yesterday and about campus safety. Afterwards Chief King will inform you about the investigation. Also Dr. Donaldson will speak about the counseling services. Then Cindy Milazzo will inform you about the emergency alert notification system.

We will open this to questions. We will aim for 30 minutes. There are people who have classes to attend and teach.

Before we get to the briefing I want to say that James Earl Matthews, who was shot, underwent surgery. I understand the surgery went well and that the outlook is good. Vice chancellor Charles Donaldson and I visited his family last evening in the hospital. I know I speak for the entire campus community in saying that his welfare is upper-most in our minds. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. In addition to providing you information about the incident, we are here to respond to questions about the safety of students, faculty and staff.

Yesterday’s shooting occurred on the south side of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) campus near the tennis courts at approximately 2:15. A passerby called 9-1-1 at 2:20 p.m. UALR sergeant James Heath reached the scene three minutes later. Within moments, he was joined by chief Brad King and other UALR police officers.

Approximately 10 minutes after the 9-1-1 call a MEMs ambulance arrived and transferred the victim to a local hospital. Within 14 minutes of the 9-1-1 call, a campus-wide alert was sent to students, faculty and staff via telephone and email.

In the coming days and weeks we will, with broad campus participation, evaluate our response and our security measures and continue to take steps to ensure the safety of the campus community.

I would like to commend chief King and his departments responses. Also the LR police’s quick response is also commended.

Now Chief King will give you an update on the criminal investigation.

Chief King: This is still under investigation. I can’t share a lot of details with you. We have identified a suspect. Hopefully by the end of the day we will have an arrest warrant. After that is accomplished I will have more to say about the crime. This is not a random crime as you would think of it. We believe the victim was the intended target all along. It is not a random crime of violence.

We’ve had great cooperation from the Little Rock police department. We are still working with them as I speak to identify the passenger. We may accomplish that before the day is out any questions?

Vice Chancellor Dr. Charles Donaldson: in incidents like this some become traumatized. There are 4 full time counselors in the counseling center. There are 18 resident associates and community advisors. The support is provided free of charge. Make this known. Go to the counseling center. The students on campus will deal with the housing staff.

In health services there is additional help. If you would like to sit and talk about what occurred please feel free to do so.

Associate Vice Chancellor Cindy Milazzo: our campus alert system really worked. The telephone messages went out to all faculty and staff and those in the residence complexes. There was an email sent out. The telephone system sent 3 messages. We let you know what is happening as these events occur. There will be an evaluation of what worked really well and what improvements could be made.

I forgot to tell you that no one system will work for everyone 100% of the time. That is why we are layering. We have telephone and email. We will explore other options. It takes layering to reach a diverse community.

Chancellor Anderson: Questions?

Male speaker: You said that the system worked beautifully. Not one person in our department received a single call. A person’s spouse from Wyoming called. That’s how we were notified.

Jeannie Winston chief information officer: we will find that there are holes in the system. In December and November all were asked to sign up. We have some mechanical issues. Some calls did not get through. Of the 2,700 calls 106 were undeliverable.

Male speaker: Do you have to register all departments?

Milazzo: All of the phones are in the system.

Male speaker: No they weren’t

Anderson: Let me add to this. Here’s my take on the system yesterday. If I look at within 3 minutes of a 911 call we had an officer on the scene and within 14 minutes we had messages going out to people; that is a rapid response.

The anecdotal evidence is from the standpoint of a lot of people it worked well and quickly. To others it did not. The systems were overloaded. One reason was because of the cell phone calls that people began to make. Those are issues that we need to look at really carefully. We look at the strengths and weaknesses and correct them. Layering will be looked at. Question?

Female speaker: Students who do not live on campus how will you get their numbers?

Anderson: in a moment I will let someone speak about that. I will take that question as the moment to say that the issues are challenging. I would have told students to turn off phones if I were teaching. That is something to be addressed with faculty. I do not have a unilateral answer

Female speaker: Those not living in residence hall how do we get them in the system?

Jeannie Winston, chief information officer: For those of you who are not living on campus and want to enter your phone go into our online system. You can enter a home phone number and a cell phone number. We will forward this to the Alert express system.

Female speaker: BOSS? [Banner Online Service System]
Winston: That is BOSS.

Anderson: Question?

Female speaker: The people who are walking on campus how will you alert them. I received a call at my office but I was walking. I did not know anything had happened until I arrived back at the office.

Anderson: we don’t have a loudspeaker system among buildings on campus. That has been under discussion. I don’t know where we will come out with that. It is a legitimate concern.

Male speaker: I have a deaf nephew on campus. How will the deaf students, I know you have staff also how will they be alerted? He goes walking from his vehicle to class. We can duck he can’t.

Anderson: He will be communicated as an individual would be in the normal course of events. You have identified another one of the issues that campuses around the country are looking at. I appreciate your question. Back here.

Female speaker: I work in the physical plant we did not know if we were to lock the building or what to do. We were near the shooting. That is something that could be addressed as well. We could have been in the line of fire.

Anderson: The message was to stay out of area of the theater. I will be looking at the messages that go out. You put your finger on something that needs to be looked at.

Male speaker: Were the phones that were not answered was it sent to voice mail?

Winston: Yes

Male speaker: How do we get our phone on the system?

Milazzo: There were some mechanical failures yesterday but your campus phone should be on the system.

Anderson: In the back.

Female speaker: I want to give a different perspective. I received a call on my cell, in the office. I am appreciative of the work. I do acknowledge that we do have problems but thank you for the work that has been done so far.

[Applause]

Anderson: Let me say that Toran is kind and you are kind with applause. This is serious. We feel good about what we have done but we are not satisfied.

Female speaker: Would you consider faculty and students to sign up for text messaging. This is a part of our life. This would benefit the deaf as well.

Anderson: Text-messaging is in our future.

Female speaker: As a student who walks campus Monday through Friday. Campus security is not visible.

Anderson: Again that is a wonderful question. You are asking about the routing of patrol. I was going to do this at the end. Some of you are leaving. If any of you have any anecdotal comments or suggestions please send that to me. I will send that to the group that will review it. Send it by email or hard copy. Let me say I welcome and encourage whatever perspective or complaint or suggestion for improvement.

This is the personal thing provoked by this comment. I live on this campus 24/7. It is a wonderful place. My wife and I feel secure. Our home is not gated. At the moment people do not feel safe. That is a normal reaction after an event like this.

Across the country college campuses are one of the safest places to be. University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) is one of them. We have a very good record in terms of campus safety. I wanted to tell you that I live and work here in the midst of this campus 24/7. I have no hesitation talking about the safety. Back to your questions.

Male speaker: [[can’t hear/can’t understand]. Were the people involved a student?

Anderson: The victim was a student. We don’t think the shooters were students. That is the question you asked?

Male speaker: Yesterday on the news one of the students said that he saw the person and thought he was sick or passed out. I don’t want to blame the student. I heard this from another person. I walked by to my desk. No matter how perfect the system, the key is the people.

[Applause].

Anderson: well said. There was one confusing factor. There had just been a MEMS unit on campus in the same area because a student had fainted. Perhaps some of the students in the area did not respond as otherwise because of the first event.

Female speaker: when the alert system sent alerts I was on the phone. Is there something in the emergency alert notification system that could override the call so you could get the alert call?

Anderson: We don’t own a lot of the phone systems. I don’t know if that would be technically feasible.

Milazzo: It is not technically feasible, but the system will call the phone repeatedly.

Female speaker: are you considering making University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) a closed campus?

Anderson: We have talked about this. The thinking now would be no. Most of our students are not on campus. We had a semi lock down yesterday. We will discuss the feasibility of this again. The judgment at this time is that this is not a response we want to build into our system. We will stop now. If you have specific questions come up and we will chat.

[End of meeting].