By Asia Fields
In 2015, a professor and a vice president contacted Western’s lockshop wanting the ability to effectively secure themselves in the case of an active shooter. The vice president received an additional lock on his office suite; the professor received nothing.
Political science assistant professor Rachel Paul contacted Western’s lockshop because she could not lock her classroom door, which could not be barricaded and was the only way in or out of the room. After not receiving a response and navigating through a number of offices, she was finally told there was nothing that could be done immediately, but that Western was planning on requesting funding for classroom door locks.
“I have been told by police for years we are not going to be locking the classrooms down for active shooter—I am not calling this person back,” Kevin Conforti, the lockshop supervisor, emailed his boss. “It seems the police go out and give people info on these types of things then our phone and e-mails get over loading with questions—we have been told to do nothing for this.”
The day after Paul contacted Western’s lockshop, Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs Rich Van Den Hul requested a lock for his office suite. While Facilities Management, which Van Den Hul oversees, initially told his office this was not possible, the suite received a lock that quarter.
“They also will not take no for an answer so this is why I am sending this to you,” Conforti wrote to his boss.
The suite received a lock that quarter, said Paul Cocke, director of communications and marketing. He said it “served as a possible prototype as the university looks at various classroom locks.”
Western is now planning to add a request for about $1.2 million for classroom door locks to its upcoming capital budget request for 2019-21 to the legislature, Cocke said.
However, emails obtained through a public records request show administrators have been concerned with how to handle faculty requests for locks on classroom doors, and have discussed requesting funding for locks, since at least 2015.
A tale of two requests
On October 12, 2015, Paul emailed Western’s lockshop, saying there was no way for her to lock the door of her basement classroom. Paul had experienced a threat to her safety while working at another university and was concerned, as the classroom had no windows, only one entrance and lacked cell service. She requested Conforti contact her to let her know how to secure the room.
Conforti decided to not call her back, according to an email he sent to Chris Brueske, assistant director of facilities maintenance and operations.
However, the next day, Van Den Hul’s assistant requested a deadbolt for the door of his office suite. With a lockdown drill coming up, the office was trying to come up with ways to lock the main door without having to go into the hallway, she said.
One hour later, Conforti sent an email to Brueske that said they could not install a deadbolt on the door because it needed to allow for emergency exit, but that Van Den Hul’s office would not take no for an answer.
The request moved up to John Furman, director of facilities management, who is directly overseen by Van Den Hul.
Furman responded to this email in around 10 minutes, and included Sue Sullivan, director of Environmental Health and Safety, and Darin Rasmussen, University Police chief.
“We need some guidance—fast,” he said.
Cocke said many office suites across campus have locks, but that some, including the suite Van Den Hul’s office is in, are “provided with enhanced security.” He said he could not discuss why due to security reasons.
Discussion of capital budget request date back to 2015
When Brueske received Paul’s email in 2015, he expressed his concern to Furman, his supervisor.
“This situation can’t be unique and eventually many professors will request the same thing. – will our active shooter strategy address this issue?” he said in the email.
Furman then included Rasmussen and Sullivan in his response, and agreed the lockshop shouldn’t respond to requests, which he believed would increase with an upcoming active shooter exercise.
He also included Greg Hough, the assistant director of facilities asset management, saying, “This is yet another item that may be on our next capital request – not sure how or what the standard might be yet, but I am sure we need to explore options for securing classroom doors from the inside.”
While the administrators emailed amongst themselves, Paul was left without a response.
After two days of not hearing back, Paul emailed Sullivan explaining she received no response to her email and voicemail for the lockshop supervisor. She said when she then reached out to campus police, they directed her to Work Control Center, which directed her to the Work Space Administration, which told her it is not campus policy to provide keys for classrooms.
In her email, Paul explained the lack of answers she received.
“When I asked her [person from Work Space Administration] how I am supposed to lock down the classroom in an emergency given that the campus policy involves, in part, ‘hiding,’ in case of an active shooter she responded that they ‘recommend that you block the door,’” Paul wrote.
“‘How,’ I asked, ‘do you recommend that I block the door when the door opens outward?’
“She responded, “I don’t know. That’s a good question.” She referred me to you.”
Political science professor Sara Weir and department chair Amir Abedi, who were included in the email, also replied saying they were extremely concerned.
Sullivan said Rasmussen would respond, which he did the next week. The majority of his response was a statement written and sent to him by Furman the week prior.
“Rightfully, many are asking how to lock their office, classroom, or laboratory door, particularly when the furniture is bolted to the floor and is not available to pile against the door,” the email said.
The email also said Western was trying to find viable solutions and would likely have a funding request for it in the upcoming capital budget request.
However, the item did not make it onto Western’s 2017-19 capital budget request, which was submitted to the governor in September 2016.
“Western follows a budgeting system that includes many levels of prioritizing and approval. Not all funding items that are needed on campus move forward for legislative funding requests,” Cocke said.
The email also said the university had not found an inexpensive method to lock a door quickly from the inside that was also compliant with fire code or the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the email, Rasmussen included Furman’s suggestion that recipients should “feel free to suggest solutions, and even better, check on whether the solution is code compliant.”
A leaked memo from the recent committee showed that multiple locking hardware options are being considered that are ADA and fire code compliant.
When asked about why Rasmussen said this, considering experts and Western’s own committee have recently said there are locks on the market that are compliant, Cocke said, “Because many products are not compliant, either then or now. And some are. There have been improvements in a variety of code-compliant locking mechanisms since then.”
Paul responded to Rasmussen’s email and said she hoped her emails constituted a service request for an interior lock for the classroom.
Cocke said there have been zero interior lock requests since that time were received by Facilities Management, meaning her request was not logged as an official service request.
In her email, Paul said she recognized the funding, logistics, legal and security issues involved in installing locks on doors. She said she hadn’t protested in the past because she had other options for escaping and alerting campus police in case of an emergency, but the basement room she was in that quarter lacked options.
“There are no alternate exits and neither I nor many (if not all) of my students have cell service. In fact, I am not even certain that we would receive Western Alerts in this room as I do not receive text notifications. This location does not have a consistent WiFi signal,” she said.
Rasmussen agreed to meet with her in her classroom to discuss security for that specific room. When he did, he agreed the classroom was problematic, and pointed out other issues Paul had not even thought about, she told The Western Front. Her request for a key was denied, and she was told the university prefers to focus on prevention instead of security. Emails show Rasmussen also met another professor with similar concerns around this time.
In June 2016, Paul reached out again to Rasmussen, as well as Western’s fire safety officer, after video of UCLA students trying to secure doors with belts and electrical cords during a lockdown went viral. She asked if Western would reconsider its decision not to give keys to professors in classrooms difficult to secure.
Her colleague Vicki Hsueh responded all and said, “There should be a better university-wide solution than bringing belts, ropes, and special security hooks to teach class.”
In response, a committee was formed to discuss securing classroom doors, but was disbanded after not coming to a conclusion, Rasmussen told the Front in March.
Funding & where Western is now
In March 2018, the locking committee was revitalized, after the Front reported on a lack of options in classrooms in the case of an active shooter and on student and faculty concerns. The committee recommended installing locks to the Van Den Hul in April.
Cocke said a request for about $1.2 million is being added to Western’s 2019-21 capital budget request. Whether locks are installed will depend on the legislature.
“Western is dependent on state capital funding and such projects can only be accomplished in a significant manner once adequate funding is provided,” Cocke said in an email.
The capital budget request Van Den Hul presented to the Board of Trustees on April 13 includes $5.6 million for security measures, which did not include the additional funds for classroom locks. At the meeting, he admitted it’s unlikely Western will receive all the funding for security measures it will request.
The legislature only granted Western around 20 percent of its budget request for security upgrades in the last capital budget.
In 2016, the university asked for $7.2 million for security upgrades including installing electronic locks on exterior doors of academic buildings, but only received $1.5 million. The money Western did receive is not being used to increase campus security, but will update current security systems, Cocke said.
However, Cocke said the current situation is different than previous years, as there is now a recommendation from a committee of faculty, staff and students. He said university officials will be as convincing as possible when advocating for funding with state officials.
The Board of Trustees will need to approve the capital budget request in June, as it will go to the state for a rating process before going to the governor, Van Den Hul said at the Board meeting.