Campus security makes efforts to educate staff and students on active shooter protocols

By Kaleel Steward

Staff Writer

In light of recent tragic events at Antioch High School, campus security is improving its efforts to educate students and faculty on active shooter protocols.

Chief Security Officer James Hambrick said the university has a standard emergency operation procedure in the event of an active shooter, but the specifics are not publicly disclosed for security reasons.

On Jan. 22, an Antioch High School student killed one person and injured another one. It is the second shooting at a Nashville school since 2023. On Mar. 27, 2023, a shooter killed six people, including Trevecca alum Katherine Koonce, the head of The Covenant School.

Security measures include increased internal training for officers and personnel, as well as upcoming training sessions for students, faculty, and staff. If an emergency situation of this kind occurs on campus, security’s goal is to locate and neutralize the threat.

“We’re doing more patrols around where our security officers are being seen more…more visible… all of that is intentional. We want to be that way,” said Hambrick.

Hambrick says there is no current measure in place to gauge people’s readiness for an active shooter on campus, although students have been exposed to training through primary and secondary education school systems.

Regarding building security, all campus housing is secured with a key card or physical key access.

Academic buildings such Mackey Education Building and Wakefield Fine Arts Building, are not always locked, but security or professors are able to lock them in the event of an emergency.

Hambrick also emphasized how important communication is during emergency situations.

“One of the big things that we’re doing is, you’ve heard it before, see something say something,” said Hambrick.

He encourages students not to hesitate to call if they see something suspicious.

The university also uses an alert system to notify students and faculty on their phones of threats in real time, and he encourages all students and faculty to sign up for RAVE alerts. To sign up visit www.getrave.com/login/trevecca.