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.

The NY Times says the school has 25,000 full-time students on a campus spread over 2,600 acres.

A big university is pretty big.

UT Austin has no gates that I can remember, except maybe to parking areas. It's also got so much off-campus housing that I bet it would be an insane chore to try and lock down the campus.

The NY Times says the school has 25,000 full-time students on a campus spread over 2,600 acres.

So locking down the University would be like locking down a town. It's easy for me to forget the scale when talking about a 'school'.

I read the interview of one of the students in the Washington Post-- apparently they do have a crisis communication system.

Lansing, Mich.: How did news about the lockdown spread? Did most people hear it or read it through e-mail? Do you know if VT had a plan in place for this kind of situation?

Anthony Della Calce: Yes, VT has an extensive crisis communication plan, which they used in the Morva incident this past August. They communicate primarily through e-mail and postings to the Tech Web sites. They also have a voicemail emergency system for the dorm phones.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday ND and CV!

My folks were driving back to CT today. I hope the weather hasn't caused them any major problems.