UF’s Steve Baum, campus safety and security sergeant; Matt Bruskotter, program manager, SEEM; Dave Emsweller, vice president for student services; Harold Huffman, program manager, SEEM; Randy Van Dyne, executive director, SEEM; and Ken Walerius, director of safety and security, attended the first Summit on Ohio College Campus Safety and Security Aug. 1.

Hosted by the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), the summit was held at The Ohio State University. Members of a Task Force on Campus Security reported on their work to make all college campuses as safe as possible.

Gov. Ted Strickland directed the OBR to form the task force in the aftermath of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Task forces addressed topics such as communications, response, resources and prevention. Teams were comprised of both OBR representatives and college and university representatives, including Bruskotter and Huffman, both of whom served on a public safety resource group.

“The clear message was that this is about colleges and universities sharing information to improve safety and security on campuses. It was not about the state legislating what we need to do,” said Emsweller.

In addition to task force presentations, participants attended sessions with focuses on mental health issues, legal issues, crisis communications, communications technology and public safety.