May 23, 2007
Contact:
 Anna Gustafson
717-787-2637
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Senate Update
by
 Senator James J. Rhoades

Last month, the tragedy at Virginia Tech left 32 people dead, many more wounded, and an entire nation in mourning. The victims of this terrible tragedy have our most sincere and heartfelt sympathy, and we pray that our nation never suffers this sort of incident again.

This terrible tragedy demonstrates the importance of having effective and up-to-date plans to respond to a similar emergency at our colleges and universities here in Pennsylvania. Our colleges and universities have plans in place to address a wide range of emergencies, and we should encourage all of our schools to work together to share information and ideas to improve campus security.

The Senate Education Committee held a public hearing recently to review the status of campus security plans at our colleges and universities and create a dialogue about improvements that may be needed. The hearing gave representatives of our higher education facilities, colleges and schools a chance to share their security practices and suggest ways that we can make our campuses safer.

The Committee heard testimony from university presidents, directors of university police and other public safety officials from the State System of Higher Education, the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, West Chester University, Temple University, Lincoln University, Lebanon Valley College, Juniata College and Montgomery County Community College.

I was very pleased at the level of participation in the hearing, and I was also impressed with the great attention to detail by those who testified.

As Chairman of the Education Committee, there is nothing more important to me than ensuring our students have a safe and secure atmosphere to pursue their studies. It is our intention to do everything in our power to prevent the same type of tragedy that happened in Virginia Tech from happening here, and I hope that promoting a dialogue on campus safety between the General Assembly and all of our institutions of higher learning will allow us to better protect our students.

Senator Rhoades represents the 29th Senatorial District, which includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton Counties.