The University of Idaho’s campus safety and emergency management policies are “complete, comprehensive and technically strong,” but not user-friendly, according to a report released Wednesday by an independent panel.
In response to UI graduate student Katy Benoit’s death, President M. Duane Nellis asked the panel to review UI’s safety and security policies and provide recommendations for improvements. Panel members included former Chief Justice of the Idaho State Supreme Court Linda Copple Trout, University of Montana Vice President of Administration and Finance Bob Duringer and Oregon State University Vice Provost for Student Affairs Larry Roper.
Ron Smith, UI vice president of Finance and Administration, said the university is pleased with the findings of the panel, which he said were thoughtful and thorough. Essentially, UI needs to improve coordination and communication relating to campus security and emergency management, he said.
“We took a view that you need to be ready to address a number of different kinds of emergencies in a lot of different departments and responsibilities in different areas around the university,” Smith said. “We need to somehow centralize all that and make it easier for students and staff to get to that information and understand what our policies are.”
The report recommends that UI create a one-page synopsis of
to contact and what to do in case of an emergency and make it easily accessible for students, faculty, staff and visitors. The university also works closely with the Moscow Police Department and campus security, and Smith said the panel thought it might be confusing as to which body should take action in an emergency.
“The police force has worked very well with our security force in the past and we want to make sure they are coordinated in case an emergency happens,” he said.
The review was not oriented specifically toward the Bustamante-Benoit incident and Smith said every incident is unique, which is why it was important for UI to have its emergency policies and procedures reviewed. UI is a very safe campus and university officials respond quickly and effectively to reported risks, said UI Dean of Students Bruce Pitman.
“We have a very safe campus, yet we’re always vigilant,” Pitman said. “We are always trying to anticipate risks and do a better job. It is a matter that we take very, very seriously so it is a constant concern.”
In response to the panel’s report, UI will form a task force to review the recommendations and determine how they should be incorporated into existing policies and procedures.
“I think the president wanted to know if there were any glaring holes in our policies and procedures so we could fix those,” Smith said. “As it turns out, we do have very good policies and procedures and just some communication issues that we need to work on.”
Smith will chair the task force that will include faculty, staff and student representatives as well as representation from MPD. The task force will hold weekly meetings starting next week until Christmas break, and then design projects to execute necessary changes. Smith said President Nellis has given the task force until the end of the academic year to implement all of the recommended changes.