As faculty and TAs, we are responsible for our own and our students' safety during emergencies that occur while we are teaching. The following link describes the UW's emergency procedures and provides a Classroom Emergencies Procedure/Checklist, which you should be familiar with. Please print out the procedures checklist and keep it with you when you are teaching:
http://www.ehs.washington.edu/fsoemerprep/instructorprocedures.pdf
You should call 911 in any emergency situation. In cases where you perceive or encounter non-emergency threatening situations, you can turn to the below resources for guidance. Through it all, I and the EWP staff are here to help you in any way we can. So please contact me if you suspect there is any problem, and together we will go through the available resources and figure out the best means of addressing it.
In response to incidents of violence on college campuses across the country, the UW has instituted a SafeCampus office and contact number (685-SAFE), linked to a Violence Prevention and Response Program. You can find the SafeCampus website at:
http://www.washington.edu/safecampus/
The SafeCampus website provides valuable information on counseling and safety resources, university policies, and violence reporting requirements. In particular, the "Faculty & TAs" tab includes guidance for classroom planning, contact information for getting help and helping
students in distress, and responding to violence. The Safe Campus office (685-SAFE) is there to provide assistance, guidance, and advice on any matter relating to your or others' safety on campus. Also linked to the SafeCampus website is a Center for Teaching and Learning guide to
dealing with threatening classroom situations:
http://socialwork.uw.edu/sswuw/drupal/sites/default/files/sswfiles/teaching/Dealing%20With%20Difficult%20Classroom%20Situations%202011.pdf
This planning guide identifies resources and strategies for dealing with difficult and threatening situations that you might encounter through your teaching. As a university employee you are REQUIRED to report--to your supervisor or to another designated campus authority (police, Safe
Campus, Student Health and Wellness, depending on the specific circumstances)--every incident that seems as if it might have potential to become violent. When in doubt, ask someone; it is far better to err on the side of excess reporting in these circumstances:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/polproc/work-violence/
Training videos, including a valuable video on one of the most worrisome situations, an actual shooting situation, can be found at:
https://www.washington.edu/safecampus/about/netid/training.html
The UW also has an Emergency Management website that includes important information about preparing for and dealing with emergencies that can happen on campus. You can find the Emergency Management website at:
http://www.washington.edu/emergency
As part of emergency management, the UW has instituted a Crisis Communication Plan which better enables communication among campus offices and programs. One element of the plan is called UW Alert--a new way of communicating rapidly to a large number of people through text
and voice messaging on mobile phones. UW Alert is one of the methods UW has of ensuring that people in our community are aware of what is happening in a crisis or emergency and what they should do.
If you are interested in signing up for UW Alert, you can do so at:
http://www.washington.edu/alert/index.php
This is a lot of information but in the interest of being prepared for emergencies, please familiarize yourselves with UW's emergency procedures and remember to call 911 in any emergency situation. Please also know that in any cases where you perceive or encounter non-emergency threatening situations, you can turn to the above resources for guidance. You are also always welcome and highly encouraged to contact the EWP Director or anyone else on the EWP staff to talk through any concerns. We are here. So please contact us if you suspect there is any problem, and together we will go through the available resources and figure out the best means of addressing it.