Response to Frequently Asked Questions

February 13, 2003

We have various scenarios we could opt for, all depending on the nature of an incident and where it occurs. You live closer to Washington and Baltimore. Have they announced the plans for you all? I think they will need to wait as well, depending on the variables. If you go to http://www.jmu.edu/safetyplan/index.shtml and click on the overview link at the top on the left side bar you will see our posture on natural and man-made incidents. We have various means for people to monitor what is transpiring from our short range (2-5 miles) AM Informational radio station (AM1610), all-account e-mail broadcasts, all-office FAX broadcasts, and the web, to networking in the residence halls and classes. We have WXJM-FM 88.7, WMAR-FM 90.7 (NPR) and WVPT-TV (PBS) Channel 51 (Cable Channel 7) right on campus. We have WSVA-AM 550 & WQPO-FM 100.7, WKCY AM 1300 & FM, WHBG-AM 1360 and WHSV-TV Channel 3 (Cable Channel 11) in Harrisonburg, plus numerous other stations in and around the city/county area. We have Adelphia Cable off campus plus campus has its own broad band cable network for television and data transmission. So we have all many means for communication. If all else fails each of our five marked and three unmarked police vehicles have a Public Address system incorporated into their audio hailer/siren units.

It is more likely that we here in the Valley would become an evac destination site in the event of a disastrous occurrence. We have plans in place with the state and regional emergency services folks for most any eventuality. We have the regional hospital complex right next to campus and the main fire station and rescue squad headquarters right around the corner within a half mile. We are networked with the Emergency Operations (9-1-1) Center (EOC) by hot line. We have radio communications with squad units of the police, sheriff and the fire department (fully paid, professional). There is much in the way of planning covered in the Comprehensive Safety Plan, some accessible to you, some by necessity password protected. We are periodically posting notice on the university's web site providing updates for our university community. The university's Office for Off Campus Living routinely liaisons with the respective apartment managers in the various complexes. The city/county EOC has the capability to effect "reverse 9-1-1" calls to people out in the community surrounding campus (6,000 calls per hour) that can be directed at specific locations with a 30 second recorded message. We are now at work endeavoring to establish similar service on campus.

We have a number of facilities that can serve as central locations, one or more having full auxiliary power. It is more likely that these facilities would be used by officials and those they serve from outside this region. Our campus telephone system is fully backed up with auxiliary power in the event of a power failure. The Public Safety building is self-sufficient with its own auxiliary power capable of running the entire three-floor building with all its attendant hard wired and wireless communications systems. Public Safety has its own State Police/FBI/NCIC/VA Emergency Services computer network terminal. We receive official government advisories over that system. Our Crisis Response team consisting of Public Safety and senior administration officials is in constant contact and can met at a moments notice.

To address your reference to the Red Cross site are linking to it as well the Homeland Security and FEMA sites (and more) from our Comprehensive Safety Plan at http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/hsas.html https://secureweb.jmu.edu/safetyplan/terrorism/terrorism/virginiahomelandsecurity.shtml and http://www.fema.gov.

February 14, 2003

An article summarized from today's Chronicle of interest.

COLLEGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, especially those located in New York City and Washington, are taking extra security precautions in response to a warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation this week that campuses are potential "soft targets" for terrorist attacks because they are heavily populated and lightly guarded. --> SEE http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021402n.htm with link: http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/02/2003021201n.htm

Late yesterday afternoon (Thursday, February 13) there was much flack on the national cable TV news about "JMU's President Evacuating It's Student Interns from Washington, DC!". Well, we did and we didn't, depending on how you define "evacuate". Seems one of our interns is working for CNN and another possibly for MSNBC. I guess when you do something for good and positive reasons, low key or not, you best remember things tend to be misinterpreted, or in the case of the media deliberately mishandled, the national media being a group of people that are "confused" by the facts, if you give them the benefit of doubt. I find them masters at creative fact bending. Our President and Academic VP concurred with a joint recommendation made by the head of our Poly Sci Department and the program director to give our 20 to 30 "Washington Semester" student interns to OPTION to leave Washington for the weekend. So, we are now trying to clarify that the students were not "called home" but given the option to leave the District if they so desired based on all the hype and subsequent fears of their parents. The program director resides in DC and will maintain contact with them all throughout the weekend. A decision will probably be rendered Monday relative when to resume normal programmatic operations. JMU sent a bus for the 24 yesterday (Thursday, February 13), only five opted to return to main campus. The rest went with friends or relatives to stay in or around the District. See the following story from the local Harrisonburg media. The national media it seems does not wish to be bothered with clarifications and the finer points of detail.

February 14, 2003

JMU Brings Students Home - 'Evacuation' From D.C. Gets National Attention

By MARK VANDERHOEK Daily News-Record

To the James Madison University officials, it was an opportunity for a breather from a worried Washington, D.C. But to the national media and insider hot sheets, it was an evacuation.

An intense police presence in Washington, D.C., and the continued high alert for possible terror attacks prompted JMU to bring home its students in the college's Washington Semester program Thursday.

JMU sent a bus to Washington to retrieve the students Thursday afternoon. However, only five of the 24 students studying in the program opted to take the bus. Many decided to stay with friends and relatives in Northern Virginia and Maryland, and others drove back to Harrisonburg on their own.

The students who came back were given dorm rooms in Rockingham Hall and graduate student housing in downtown Harrisonburg. The move left students wondering why. It also prompted national media attention when a JMU student interning at CNN was recalled during the workday.

Much of the national media attention subsided once the details were made known, according to university spokesman Fred Hilton. The initial uproar caused the decision to be "blown out of proportion," Hilton says.

"We had no inside information, we did not have a any specific threat. We were just close enough to bring them home," said Glenn Hastedt, the head of the political science department, which runs the Washington semester.

"I don't believe anything is going to happen but I don't know if I'd want to take the chance of being wrong," he said.

Morning Conversation

The move, which came after several days of discussions among administrators, was prompted by a discussion between Hastedt and David A. Jones, the professor running the program in D.C., Hastedt said.

"We decided to have the students come back and get some breathing space from Washington," Hastedt said. "We hope to have them back by Tuesday."

After talking with Jones, Hastedt, the dean of the college of arts and letters, and the vice president for student affairs talked by phone and decided to recommend that President Linwood Rose remove the students from Washington.

Rose signed off, and Jones began calling students, telling them to come back to the Washington row houses where they lived and pack clothes to go back to Harrisonburg.

Wondering Why

Students who came back said they were disappointed they had to leave but they understood.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," said Lauren Plemmons, a senior political science major from Goshen, Va.

She and the rest of the students in the dorms were told that they would be reimbursed for any incidentals that needed to be purchased, and the students were given meal cards. However, most were stuck without linens for their beds.

"We were hoping they would put us up in a hotel, but I guess they had other plans," she said.

Clay Pendelton, a senior political science major from Muncie, Ind., left his internship with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, and said he was worried about the consequences of his job hunt in Washington if he were not allowed back. He came back to Harrisonburg "drained" and did not attend a voluntary meeting with administrators. Instead he opted to stay with friends at an off-campus apartment.

He was resigned to his situation.

"I don't think anything's going to happen, but you never know," he said.

February 15, 2003

Students React To Decision By JMU

By KATE LEWIS Daily News-Record

Although initially disappointed at being forced to leave a spring semester program in Washington, D.C., James Madison University students acknowledge the decision made by school administrators was a good one.

The continued high alert for possible terror attacks and an increased security presence in the nation's capital prompted JMU officials to request all 25 students participating in the program to leave Washington immediately.

While some students left the city independently, JMU sent a bus to collect the rest and return them to campus Thursday.

The students, who lived together only two blocks from Capitol Hill, either returned to university-provided dormitories or the homes of friends and family.

The exodus received national media attention after a university official contacted CNN, and asked the JMU student interning there to be allowed to return to campus.

Student Reaction

Lauren Plemmons, a senior political science major from Goshen, was stunned when Dr. David A. Jones, the professor running the college's Washington semester program, called at her Arlington internship and told her to pack her bags.

Although Plemmons admitted she noticed increased security in the capital, she said there was no difference in her regular day.

Jones' vague phone call set her on edge.

"It was frightening," Plemmons said. "It seemed between yesterday and the day before nothing had changed. I thought maybe they knew something. I thought, what do they know that we don't?" The phone call and subsequent evacuation made her think for the first time that she could be affected by terrorism.

"It's frustrating to have to live your life around terrorist threats," Plemmons continued. "But JMU has been very accommodating. Even though it's a huge inconvenience, it's a smart decision, and we understand that."

Chris Bast, a junior political science major from Roanoke, interned in the office of Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan. When he received Jones' phone call, Bast was more concerned with the future of the Washington program than possible terror attacks.

"We all went to D.C. with the knowledge that it isn't the same D.C. it was two years ago," Bast said. "We were in more of a panic about what was going to happen to us and how long we were going to stay in Harrisonburg."

Worried over the possible loss of their semester in Washington, Bast and other students met with Jones and Glenn Hastedt, head of the political science department, to discuss the future.

After the meeting, Bast felt better about the situation.

"I think the general conclusion among the group is that they did the right thing," Bast said. "I'm pretty confident we'll go back next week."

'A Prudent Thing To Do'

Hastedt said much of the hype surrounding the student withdrawal focused on whether school officials had inside knowledge of an imminent terror attack, which he denies.

The university's close proximity to Washington allowed school officials the possibility of bringing the students back to JMU. This is the first time JMU students have been removed from a spring semester in Washington.

"I don't really think anything is going to happen," Hastedt said. "I just don't want to be wrong. Certainly there is disappointment, but I think they [the students] understand our intent and what our purpose is."

Hastedt said students should contact the political science office on Monday to learn the latest news. He hopes to send the students back to Washington on Tuesday.

"The logic behind the move is not one of shutting down the program," Hastedt said. "The logic behind the move is to create a pause to assess the situation and then move forward. We're not talking permanent damage to any type of experience. It was a prudent thing to do."



Publisher: JMU Office of Public Safety Contact: Public Safety Last Revised: October 21, 2004 Privacy Statement