BU has created videos and training—for students, staff, faculty, and visitors—on what to do in the case of an active shooter or other violence on campus.

Campus Safety

BU’s SAFE Initiative Offers Videos, Training in the Event of Campus Violence

One version is for the public, the other for students, faculty, and staff

The University has created informational videos and training on how community members can protect themselves during an active shooting or targeted violence on campus.

The Safety Awareness for Everyone (SAFE) initiative has two components. One is a 12-minute video for prospective students, their families, and members of the public visiting campus, highlighting what to do in an emergency. The second is a 30-to-40 minute “Asynchronous Training,” including videos, text, and interactive exercises, that is accessible only to current students, faculty, and staff.

“These videos were produced to meet the increasing demand for trainings/instruction on campus on the topic of safety,” says Kelly Nee, BU’s chief safety, security, and preparedness officer. SAFE follows “large-scale training” in emergency response that was done on the Medical Campus during the administration of Robert A. Brown, BU president emeritus, she says.

“After we presented to over 400 faculty and staff there,” Nee says, Brown “wanted something that could be available to the entire campus, and SAFE is the result.”

While other schools have similar initiatives, she says, “we decided to make ours customized to the BU community, without using scenarios and actors to simulate violence. Ours is also unique in our inclusion of mental health and well-being [information].” Only George Mason University has included similar content in their training videos, Nee notes. 

SAFE was created by University police, emergency management, health, and technology personnel. “The project team worked carefully to balance this topic’s sensitive nature with the necessity to provide objective and precise information related to safety and preparedness during active threat situations,” Nee noted in an email sent to the BU community in August announcing the initiative.

“While such events are statistically rare,” she wrote, “their potential impact is significant. Our primary objective is to empower you with the knowledge to be prepared and to provide actionable steps to take during such events while considering self-care and mental health aspects.”

In both the public video and the Asynchronous Training video, Nee says, SAFE’s goals include introducing viewers “to the mental and physical exercise of assessing your surroundings” in an emergency. “My favorite strategy for being prepared and staying safe is to make a plan.” 

Such a plan, the videos note, includes well-known elements (911 is the emergency number to summon police; knowing how to silence your phone, to conceal yourself; knowing how to access emergency SOS features on your phone) and those that might not be in the forefront in people’s minds—taking note of the campus address, building, floor, and room you’re in, as well as stairwells and accessible escape routes, and checking windows and doors for locks. Items such as chairs and large desks can be used to barricade doors against intruders, the video notes.

The videos also list reportable warning signs that someone may be thinking of hurting themselves and others, with a caveat: “When assessing the people around you, monitor for behavior, not appearances,” says Captain Lawrence Cuzzi of the BUPD. “No person should be reported based on their physical appearance, age, gender, race, ethnicity, religious background, or other identity characteristics.”

Contact information for the BUPD (617-353-2121) and other resources, including behavioral specialists and BU Alert, which notifies community members of an emergency via text, email, or phone call, are also included in the video, along with information about how parents and campus visitors can opt in to BU Alert text messages.

SAFE training is not mandatory, Nee notes, “but highly encouraged,” for a tragic reason:

“Unfortunately, no matter how you receive news and information, there doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by without hearing about an incident of mass violence or shootings. Although these events are very unlikely, they cause us anxiety and apprehension, and the results are obviously devastating. 

“The growing demand across our community for information on how to prepare and respond led the university to develop the SAFE videos…one public facing (Youtube) for prospective students, families and the public, and the second more interactive, providing members of our community with more in-depth information.”