Security

Here is a glance at what a campus law enforcement agency pursuing accreditation through a national organization can expect. The publications Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies, 5th Edition, and CALEA Process and Programs Guide, provide more details.

1. Curb assessors' travel costs. Wake Forest University (N.C.) lent their assessors a university vehicle, organized work-related meals, and housed them at one of the institution's hotels. "Get creative," advises Police Chief Regina Lawson. "I'm sure if you have an empty residence hall, they are not above staying [there] or in a guest apartment."
2. Be prepared for extra must-have's. Some standards may require additional expenditures (such as a certain brand of lockers for storing evidence or reconfiguring card access) to be in compliance, Lawson notes.

At the University of San Diego (USD), while students and faculty look forward to summertime, the USD Wireless Team is working without any real breaks. The USD Wireless Team knows that summer brings more than 12,000 visitors on campus for events, sports camps, and conferences. Each year the Team is faced with a number of challenges in supporting these visitors, including providing secure wireless internet access across a campus that spans 180 acres.

The 53-campus system includes seven state universities and 25 community and technical colleges offering more than 3,500 programs to 374,000 students and 140,000 continuing career education enrollees. With campuses five to six hours apart, Karen Bergmeier, ITS project lead- er and Cisco WebExTM solution liaison, found herself traveling four to five hours two to three times each week to conduct training on the system’s proprietary software.

With Expansive views of the mighty Hudson River and a campus that consistently ranks among the nation’s most beautiful, Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, offers students an idyllic setting for learning. Still, like every other school, Marist faces serious threats to its IT network, and its unique campus, with 49 buildings spread across 180 acres, posed special security challenges to its IT staff.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has enhanced security in three of its largest parking lots with the addition of video surveillance systems from ADT Security Services.

For more than 35 years, Barton County Community College in central Kansas has been preparing students for success through a blend of classroom and practical hands-on education. A majority of the school’s degree programs incorporate the use of technology to prepare students for today’s workforce, while its wired buildings and computer labs ensure that technology access is at the fingertips of its more than 5,000 students.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, President Obama called for a 60-day review of national policies and structures related to cybersecurity. The denial-of-service attacks launched against some government and commercial websites here and in South Korea over the July 4 weekend probably proved the necessity of such a step to any remaining doubters.

THE DANGERS PEOPLE MIGHT encounter on a college campus are the same as those on a city street. Since there is no way to know when a security incident might occur (unless, say, someone calls in a bomb threat), campus leaders are relying on proper training to enable their security personnel to predict such incidents and respond appropriately.

While security personnel at community colleges deal with the same challenges faced by their counterparts at four-year institutions, there are some twists presented by the more fluid nature of the population at two-year institutions.