TEXAS STATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN
A college campus
is a community of a significant number of people who come together from many
backgrounds and environments to live, work and attend
school. In a large campus community like at Texas State University, emergencies
or critical incidents will occur. The occurrence of an emergency-producing
incident can have both direct and indirect traumatizing effects on a wide range
of the community members. While Texas State cannot create a foolproof plan to
deal with every contingency, a basic plan for institutional response to emergency
situations can:
1.
increase
the effectiveness and immediacy of the response to any victims;
2.
reduce
the severity and duration of the trauma to the campus community; and
3.
reassure the public, local and university
community.
Texas
State defines emergency incidents as the following situations that may require
a coordinated response:
1. Death
of a student (on or off campus)
2. Attempted
suicide
3. Life
threatening injury or illness
4. Sexual
assault
5. Mental
health emergency
6. Drug
or alcohol overdose
7. Campus
disturbance or riot
8. Contacting
students in case of family emergency
9. Fire
or explosion with injuries or significant damage
10. Bomb
threats
11. Violent
crimes (on campus or in the campus community)
12. Health
hazard or emergency
13. Power
outages or physical plant failure
14. Facilities
structural damage or danger
15. Natural
disasters
16. An
emergency situation involving a Texas State student with the Study Abroad Program
17. Student
organization hazing with injuries or fatalities to student
18. Active
shooter on campus
In order to provide an effective and
planned response to campus emergency situations, Texas State has established
two response groups: the Emergency Management Committee (EMC) and the Behavior
Assessment Team (BAT) to assess the situation and coordinate the university’s
response to a critical incident.
Some
emergency incidents result from disaster situations that risk the safety of
Texas State students, faculty and staff for an extended period and impair the
university’s immediate function because of damaged or unsafe facilities. For
these situations, UPPS No. 05.04.03, Emergency
Operations, specifies specific policy and procedures to be followed
during the disaster period. Attachment I of this policy concerns procedures to ensure
the ongoing safety of the Texas State community and actions necessary to restore
safety and function to the disaster area. This Emergency Management Plan’s
focus is to provide support and assistance to Texas State community members severely
affected by the incident.
B.
Emergency
Management Committee
UPPS No. 05.04.03 establishes the Emergency Management
Committee (EMC) to oversee the university’s response to the emergency
situation. The policy specifies the membership of the committee and the
appointment and responsibilities of the director of Emergency Operations. When
circumstances warrant gathering information for a potential emergency, the president
will convene a meeting of appropriate committee members to assess the
situation, identify damaged facilities and hazardous sites, and recommend specific
emergency actions to restore university safety and function.
III. Behavior
Assessment Team (BAT) Function
The BAT, operating under UPPS No. 07.10.05, advises university administration, faculty
and staff regarding student behavior considered potentially dangerous to
self or others or extremely disruptive or threatening.