Reader’s Digest: Is Your College Student Safe at School?

Best Practices: Last September, a St. John's University freshman donned a Fred Flintstone mask and walked onto the New York campus carrying a loaded rifle in a plastic bag. A security guard spotted the end of the barrel and then helped subdue the gunman before shots were fired. As police swarmed the area, panicked students holed up in classrooms. Within eight minutes, they got a text message on their cell phones telling them that an armed man had been arrested on campus and that they should stay put. Messages kept coming for the next three hours while police scoured the campus.

It was the first use of an emergency notification system the school had activated a month earlier. St. John's also has six plasma-screen "e-boards" placed in strategic spots to flash warnings. Says Assistant Vice President Dominic Scianna, "In the world we live in, you just can't be too careful."

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