To: OSU Faculty and Staff
From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President
Mike Green, Vicce President for Finance and Administration
March 20, 2018
Oregon State colleagues,
Fortunately, at Oregon State University we have not experienced the kinds of acts of violence that have occurred at other universities and schools around the country. Yet, we need to remain vigilant in ensuring the safety of the university community through security measures, policing practices, and our collective awareness and reporting.
OSU’s Department of Public Safety leads our university wide safety and security effort. This work is in partnership with state and local law enforcement and public safety agencies throughout Oregon, including the Oregon State Police, the Corvallis police and fire departments, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Corvallis, the Bend police and fire departments, and many other agencies statewide.
As well, the university utilizes two 24/7 incident response teams made up of expert representatives from key departments including the Department of Public Safety, Oregon State Police, CAPS, the Office of Human Resources and others. One of the teams assesses imminent threats or emerging incidents and provides response and support as needed. The other is responsible for timely communications.
University leaders rely on the evaluation and judgement of these teams, law enforcement personnel, and other experts in making immediate and substantive university decisions regarding safety and security. In the attached, we provide a summary of recent actions and major initiatives underway. Additionally, we rely on information and advice from the faculty, staff and students our community.
To that end, we are planning to hold meetings in Corvallis and Bend in April and May to engage in a community-wide discussion of the university’s security, to consider ways to improve our infrastructure and protocols, and to address any concerns our community members have about the level of safety at OSU. Shortly we will also launch a web page that will serve as a readily available security information resource. We will provide details of meeting dates, times and locations at the start of the spring term.
As is the case in all matters at OSU, our safety and security practices and procedures are subject to continual review and improvement.
We encourage you to contribute your ideas and recommendations. Your engagement will help us provide for the safety of all members of the Oregon State University community.
Sincerely,
Edward Feser Mike Green
Provost and Executive Vice President Vice President Finance & Administration