In a world where Jews are often targets for anti-Semitic hate crimes, a Jewish institution in midtown Manhattan requires extensive security measures—both apparent and unknown to the student body—to ensure safety on a day-to-day basis. Several security programs and protocols have surfaced in recent weeks as part of enhanced security implementation on both the Midtown and Washington Heights campuses.
About a week into classes, students received an email to their Yeshiva University accounts informing them of a mandatory Active Shooter training to take place during the upcoming week of school. Students were required, according to the email, to attend one of two sessions offered.
During the lockdown training sessions, Paul Murtha, Director of Security at SCW, addressed a crowd of Stern students in Koch Auditorium. She showed a video with guidelines for Active Shooter incidents and informed students of specific safety protocols to be carried out in each of the 215 Lexington and 245 Lexington buildings in the case of an Active Shooter situation (as part of the security revamp, links to the guidelines and training information for an Active Shooter incident are posted on the YU Security web page).
Murtha also described a new magnetic door lock system installed on the posts of classroom doors that can be stripped off to create a quick and sturdy lock to prevent intruders from entering.
When asked why now, in particular, Active Shooting training has become important, Don Sommers, Stern College chief of security for twenty-five years, responded, “It is appropriate now all over the country. There have been so many incidents [of active shooters], and it is a precautionary measure. Just like fire drills, people should know what to do to prepare.”
“I am happy that the students were informed on how YU is taking steps to create a safer campus. I also found the new magnet system to be extremely creative,” stated sophomore Miram Pearl Klahr.
Daniella Penn, a senior, felt that the session helped her realize “that a large part of the effectiveness of security on campus is student cooperation, and the more informed and aware we are, the safer we are.”
For others, however, the session stirred up feelings of being inconvenienced.
“I think that it was just really absurd that they thought the most effective way to share a large amount of important information with us was by shoving us all into one room on one assigned night,” said Chevi Friedman, a senior at SCW. “Commuters especially…you can’t force people who don’t live on campus to stay after hours…I just think that making something ‘mandatory’ for us was a little silly and really unrealistic.”
Others felt that the practicality and applicability of the information relayed during the session were perhaps lost due to the way the session was conducted.
“I understand the importance of the session and the increased awareness of security on campus,” said one SCW senior. “But when you have three hundred packed into a room where many have difficulty seeing the screen and hearing the presenter, the information will not be absorbed or retained.”
Two weeks after the security training sessions took place, another email went out describing the special NYPD coverage to be implemented during the weeks of the High Holidays. On the uptown campus, an NYPD Mobile Command Center Vehicle has been placed at the intersection near the Gleuck Center, where prayer services are held during the holidays. One email sent from YU security to the student body lists “the backdrop of the Gaza conflict and the recent actions of ISIS, along with reports of rising incidents of anti-Semitism around the world” as an impetus for these increased security measures during this time.
These relatively recent security measures come amidst already pre-existing safety precautions that Yeshiva University has been practicing for years. Murtha has been conducting security orientations, as well as providing extensive fire safety and evacuation training for the student body, employees, and security officers here at Stern.
Sommers recounted that when he started his job at Stern twenty-five years ago, the student council was working to successfully implement a policy that would require students to show their IDs when entering campus buildings. Though he understands that many students feel inconvenienced by having to locate and show their IDs, Sommers stressed, “in this day and age, it is important that everyone is comfortable with who is entering the building. It can only be done with everyone’s cooperation.”
Sommers imparted a lasting message to the student body: “If anything [strange] is observed, immediately notify the security department and let us know. The quicker you notify, the quicker the response,” he stated. “Always be prepared.”