Many colleges have response plans

Eight years after the Virginia Tech massacre led to tighter security at colleges across the U .S ., some schools make “active shooter” training mandatory for incoming students, while others offer little more than brief online guidance on what to do if there’s a gunman on the loose, a review by The Associated Press finds

The AP looked at public colleges and universities in more than 40 states after yet another shooting rampage, the killing of nine people at an Oregon community college Oct 1 On Friday, there was more bloodshed, with one person killed and three wounded at an Arizona university

At some institutions, such as the Colorado School of Mines and Arkansas State University, training on how to respond to an armed intruder has become as much a part of fall orientation as lessons on alcohol abuse Students hear presentations covering their options, such as running, hiding or fighting back

Other schools have purely voluntary training Or they put information on what to do in an emergency on websites, where it can easily be overlooked by students and staff members Many public college and university systems leave it up to their individual campuses to draw up emergency plans and decide what level of training, if any, to give employees and students

In the wake of the recent violence, some professors, students and administrators are asking whether schools need to do more to deliver potentially life-saving messages to those on campus