This is an interesting debate.

I'm trying to figure out how to effect a prompt and complete lockdown of an entire college campus. If they locked down my campus, it's a good bet that I wouldn't find out about the lock down until I came to work. Which, okay, would mean they'd need to turn me away at the gate along with everyone else driving into campus--but that would require a very large security presence. Do most schools have that?

I'm trying to figure out if there would be any possible way to lock down my campus. We're not really a defined "campus" separate from the rest of the city -- there are a few blocks that are totally campus buildings, but then a whole bunch more blocks that are a mix of university and other stuff. But, on the other hand, most of the "other stuff" is World Bank and IMF, so I'm betting they've got security covered pretty well.

Which, okay, would mean they'd need to turn me away at the gate along with everyone else driving into campus--but that would require a very large security presence. Do most schools have that?

Do most schools have a gate? I went to large universities with no real obstacles along the campus boundries.

This is making me think about the shooting that happened at my grad school. I was probably 50 yds away when it happened. I have no idea what the official response was but I know there wasn't a lockdown.

A gate? We've got at least 6.

A big university is pretty big.

UW-Madison has a campusy area, but it also has some university buildings interspersed with the rest of the city. So I'm not sure what they'd do in a case like that.

A big university is pretty big.

Yeah, but most of the ones I know don't have any boundary like that -- there's no gate to turn anyone away from, just building entrances.

FTR, here's the emails the Uni sent out: [link]

I'm a little appalled at the time stamp on the first one. But beyond that, I do think that given the time of day and the circumstances, getting the word out and shutting down the campus would be a Herculean task.

McGill had several gates to the main campus, but lots of other pathways in. As well as numerous buildings outside the gates. I'm guessing that, as a big school in a non-urban environment, Va Tech is probably a lot more spread out, too.

Marquette has one of the major streets in Milwaukee running right through the middle of it. It has more of a set-aside campus than it did back in the 1960s (most of the sidestreets were closed off at Wisconsin Ave. then), but there are no gates setting off the main campus, just big sidewalks. The dorms had good security (being downtown, they didn't want street people wandering in for a place to sleep), but the classroom buildings and other open-for-everyone locations had practically none.

MSNBC is reporting the number of dead at 33, including the gunman: [link]

Investigators told NBC News that they had so far been unable to positively identify the gunman, whose face was disfigured when he was killed. He carried no ID or cell phone, and an initial check on his fingerprints came up empty.

and

About 9:15, the gunman chained the doors of the classroom building so his potential victims could not escape and police could not enter.

So, pretty well-planned. Somehow, that gives me the creeps more than if it had been someone who just snapped and went postal.