Senior political science major Thomas Guzzo shares concerns over lack of preparation for emergencies. Photo courtesy of Thomas Guzzo

The importance of preparation in an emergency

April 5, 2023

21 2 minutes read

By Thomas Guzzo

AFTER the shelter-in-place on April 3, many emotions went through my head. The two I felt the most; fear of what could have happened and anger at how this was able to happen. What yesterday proved is how unprepared and unsecured Rider University is.

Most professors were unaware and unprepared for the worst. From what I was told by many of my peers, many students had to lead the lockdown measurements to protect themselves, because Rider does not properly educate the faculty on what to do when the worst happens.

This marks a stark contrast to my time in high school where it would be out of the question if teacher s were not trained for an active shooter. I was given more training at my job at a grocery store for this kind of event than Rider faculty apparently were; training that I have to repeat every year.

The lack of actual security on campus is embarrassing, and it is not the fault of Public Safety. If the issue is not being able to afford proper security, what is the point of having security at all? Even now, after a shooting threat and an hour-long lockdown, it’s terrifying that there is still a lack of security.

Many students I have talked to expressed that they would feel safer if campus security was raised in the days or weeks afterward. The fact that we had a major event the day after this lockdown when it could have been moved to its rain date is gravely concerning. Another point to be made is the fact that our inter national students were extremely unprepared for this event. Many of them did not receive the messages sent by Public Safety. Messages that, notably, were very unclear which led to further fear and mass confusion among the faculty and students.

One thing that should happen is to make security training mandatory for students and faculty. An increase in Public Safety and resources for them to better protect Rider is needed. Better security in our dorms is needed. Even the entrances themselves need better protection. The bottom line is resources needed to be better allocated to Public Safety. I truly hope Rider never has to go through this again but I hope that we are more prepared if it does.