Active shooter policies compared

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TECHNICIAN

PAGE 3 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018

Active shooter policies compared

Boz Kaloyanov

Assistant News Editor

A lockdown at William Peace University occurred Monday Dec. 3, following reports of a gunman on campus. After two hours, police confirmed there was no threat. William Peace University, as well as NC State, have guidelines for students in place, to help in situations like these.

According to the William Peace University Student Handbook, in the event of an emergency, the university notifies individuals through its Pacer Alert system, an external public address system, instruction from staff, an additional warning system, and the university’s website.

The handbook explains students should follow certain guidelines during an emergency. Individuals involved should listen for information provided by the university and follow instructions, remain calm, avoid using elevators and know marked exits.

Instructions specifically regarding active shooter situations are also included. If the shooter’s location is known to be in a building, those informed should attempt to notify anyone to avoid the building as soon as possible. Call 911, but be prepared for the system to be overwhelmed, and provide name, location of the incident, number of shooters, if known, a description of them and potential injuries.

NC State has a similar policy, when it comes to active shooter scenarios, but there is less information on what to do regarding the police’s involvement. Both universities advise that individuals make decisions ultimately based on current circumstances, and acknowledge that situations may change quickly.

In the event individuals are stranded inside a building, the William Peace handbook advises barricading the door, turn off the lights and close the window blinds, and avoid line of sight with hallways. Be as quiet as possible, stay in the room until the police have given an all clear sign. When police arrive, remain calm, and avoid making quick movements or yelling.

NC State’s guidelines are very similar, suggesting barricading doors, blocking line of sight and turning off lights. Additionally, NC State advises taking cover behind dense, solid objects whenever possible, in an attempt to stop bullets.

John Everett, a fourth-year studying simulation and game design, said very little information was relayed to students, which did not help the situation.

“I was walking out of my room to go get lunch, and [I read] there was a lockdown, potential gunman on campus,” Everett said. “So I stayed here, that’s fine. Like 20 minutes later, Raleigh Police on campus. We didn’t hear anything for about another hour. Nothing being posted on the school website. I was getting more from just reading what different newspapers [were saying].”

Since 1951, there have been 17 school shootings in the state of North Carolina, two of which happened in this year. None have occurred in the Raleigh area.

The first of this year occurred at Wake Forest University on Jan. 20, and involved a student getting fatally shot at a party around 1 a.m. The second was at the David W. Butler High School on Oct. 29, where Bobby McKeithen, a sophomore, was shot and killed.

More information on NC State’s policies can be found on the Emergency Management & Mission Continuity website.

GRAPHIC BY RAFAEL ZINGLE/TECHNICIAN

News PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018 TECHNICIAN NC State Dining accomodates students with allergies

Daniel Gilliam

Assistant Video Editor

To ensure student safety, NC State Dining works to prevent allergens such as gluten, nuts and fish from contaminating food across all of its locations.

Lisa Eberhart, registered dietitian and director of nutrition and wellness, spoke about what dining does to prevent crosscontamination. She considers NC State to be cutting-edge with regards to allergen safety.

“Many universities have decided ‘if you have an allergy we’re going to make your food separately, and then if you have a peanut allergy we’re just going to ban peanuts and tree nuts from the campus,’” Eberhart said. “NC State decided to go a different route … We decided we’d try to mark our foods down to the ingredient level for every item on campus so students would know what’s in their food, and that’s been very successful. I think we have fewer allergy incidents here than places where they do this total restriction for people.”

According to Eberhart, around 700 students have identified themselves to the university as having food allergies. These students receive emails whenever dining has special events, such as the Thanksgiving dinner at the dining halls, which include out-of-the-ordinary allergens like pecans in pecan pie.

“We give the students their bill of rights,” Eberhart said. “They’re allowed to talk to the chef, they’re allowed to ask for things that are going keep them safe, and that’s worked really well for NC State.”

Many retail locations on campus, such as Jason’s Deli, have what’s called a “purple preparation” kit, which can be used upon request. According to Eberhart, this contains items such as purple knives, cutting boards and gloves. This is so that both the student and the employee preparing the food know that there are no allergens contaminating the board and knife, which are washed after use.

Scott Curtner, manager of Clark Dining Hall, emphasized that dining employees do not deviate from recipes to ensure food safety.

“If you’re following a recipe, then it has already been tested for nutritional analysis, allergen analysis,” Curtner said. “If you deviate outside of that recipe, then the possibility of a cross contamination could greatly occur, and it could turn out to be a bad thing.”

He also said that surfaces and equipment used to prepare food containing specific allergens are not used to prepare any other foods until everything has been cleaned and sanitized.

“If you’re going to fry fish, then whatever fryer that was used, that’s the only thing that can be fried in that oil, is fish,” Curtner said. “If you have fried fish for lunch and you’re not going to have fried fish for dinner, then after lunch, that oil is thrown away, and the fryer is cleaned and sanitized and fresh oil is put in.”

Eberhart described how the recent outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce was addressed by dining.

“It was just starting to be talked about, and we got rid of all romaine on campus,” Eberhart said. “We actually sent out people to make sure that it happened. We’d go out and ask people to order a Caesar salad and see what they would get, and everybody got rid of everything.”

According to Eberhart, the employees serving the food, the manager of the establishment and the electronic kiosks located in dining areas are the best points of contact for anyone with specific concerns about their food. More information about allergen safety and other nutritional concerns can be found at Dining’s nutrition webpage.

KATIE BARNES/TECHNICIAN As one of the three different dining halls on campus, Fountain Dining Hall claims to make an effort to recognize ingredients that may cause allergic reactions to students with food allergies by identifying allergy-causing foods. Fountain Dining Hall was built in 1982 and named after former English professor Alvin M. Fountain.

News PAGE 5 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018 TECHNICIAN NC State coordinates with Lime, impounds Bird

Lauren Greene

Correspondent

Bird, an electric scooter rental service, does not have a contract with NC State University to operate on campus, resulting in many scooters impounded by the university since their arrival in Raleigh.

Lime, which came to NC State over a year ago, has brought bikes, e-bikes and scooters to campus.

According to Mike Kennon, assistant director of planning and operations at NCSU Transportation, the university has a contract with Lime, whereas Bird does not. Over the past year, the university received positive feedback from students using the LimeBikes, which were the first Lime product introduced on the campus.

Kennon explained that while the university has a relationship with Lime, Bird scooters are technically not allowed.

“We do not have an agreement with Bird, so Bird scooters are impounded,” Kennon said. “I think the confusion is about when we started our program with Lime; Bird scooters came to the city of Raleigh, not the university necessarily, without any agreement or permission and put a bunch of scooters on the streets that eventually found their way to campus.”

Kennon discussed the procedure for Bird scooters found on campus.

“Close to 300 Bird scooters have been impounded,” Mike said. “If we find a Bird scooter on campus, we store it, take a picture and notify Bird. We remind them that they are not licensed to operate on campus, and that we have their scooters.”

NC State does not have a contract with Bird. The company does not have customer service representatives available, which makes issues difficult to resolve.

“The reason that Bird does not have an agreement with the university is that Bird’s business model is such that they do not have any employees here in Raleigh,” Kennon said. “All they have are contract employees that collect scooters at night to charge them. We really have no customer service.”

Lime, on the other hand, has representatives available to NC State. Thomas Hardiman, director of the Office of Student Conduct, explained the procedure for damages to the company’s products. The university is prevented from collecting fees by law, but in cases of damage, students are required to pay Lime directly, according to Hardiman. “Any time a student intentionally or recklessly damages the Lime bikes or scooters … through student conduct, we require them to pay restitution.” Hardiman said. “It is a flat fee of $600 for a bike or a scooter. We have had students try to do tricks with the scooters and actually broke them in half. We have also had students who have thrown the LimeBikes off buildings. We require them to pay restitution and provide us with documentation that they actually paid Lime the money they owe for breaking whatever it was they damaged.”

Lime protects their scooters from those who might damage them by notifying Lime of the individual who last accessed the scooter before it was damaged, according to Hardiman.

Hardiman explained that these incidents have not been a reoccurring thing.

“There has only been a handful of incidents Lime-related, and an even smaller number where something has been damage,” Hardiman said.

Kennon discussed that the university has no preference between a Lime scooter or Bird scooter, but Bird does not have any customer service to handle problems. Lime also has perks for NC State students that many people are unaware of.

“Lime has agreed to offer half off their e-products to students that use their NCSU email to register,” Kennon said. “It is only 50 cents to unlock the scooter and seven cents a minute, versus a dol-

“We have also had students who have thrown the LimeBikes off buildings. We require them to pay restitution and provide us with documentation that they actually paid Lime the money they owe for breaking whatever it was they damaged. ” lar to unlock it and 15 cents a minute. A lot of students are paying full price to unlock the Birds when you can ride the Lime for half the price.”

NCSU Transportation is still working with Bird to reduce the number of Bird scooters on campus.

EMMA DIMIG/TECHNICIAN A Bird scooter stands outside of the Weisiger-Brown Athletic Facility on Tuesday, Aug. 28. The electric scooters are part of a vehicle-sharing program which has been established in cities across the U.S., including Raleigh. Some Bird scooters can be seen around NC State’s campus.