On behalf of the community at Western Connecticut State University, I offer my deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the shooting at Northern Illinois University last week as well as to the students, faculty and staff who are dealing with the tragedy.

Universities are not immune to violence, but loss of life on a campus is perhaps especially shocking because the first mission of a university is to encourage learning, understanding and life-enhancing activities.

I want to assure everyone connected to WestConn that we are aware of our responsibilities to provide a safe and healthy campus. Our departments of counseling, residence life and police are well-trained and available to everyone who might have concerns or questions.

If you live on campus, please remember that residence hall staff is available 24 hours a day to assist you. Also, University police staff both campuses around the clock.

The University’s administrators meet regularly to anticipate and to plan for events that might disrupt the campus or lead to harmful consequences, and to develop improvements in our preparedness with the Connecticut State University system office and our state legislators.

A new University alert system in the final stages of approval in Hartford will include a combination of cell phone and Internet notifications. We expect it will be installed at WestConn soon. In the meantime, administrators, campus police and our communications team work together to ensure that notifications are made in a timely manner.

I want to assure you that should you have any concerns about security, the University’s leadership team wants to hear from you. You may call or e-mail my office at (203) 837-8300 and schmotterj@wcsu.edu.

Sincerely,

President James W. Schmotter

Below is a list of other WCSU resources that you might find useful. Please take advantage of them.