Last week's tragic shooting at Umpqua Community College has left us all deeply saddened, and our thoughts continue to be with the members of our extended community college family in Rosenburg, Oregon. It is not surprising that, since this shocking event, I have heard from faculty, staff, and students with concerns about safety at MCC. In response, we are increasing our outreach to share information about all that MCC is doing to promote a safe learning environment and to prevent incidents on campus. Yesterday's Daily Tribune post from Public Safety Director Simonetti was the first step, and he included the dates of upcoming College Hour presentations at both Brighton and Damon that I hope you will consider attending.
In addition, I am attaching to this message a brief on MCC Campus Safety; it covers topics ranging from campus access to background checks, from reporting concerns about troubling behaviors to registering for MCC Alert. I encourage you to read this document and to continue to raise any questions you might have. Even more importantly, I ask that you follow the plain and simple but effective adage, "If you see something, say something." In all cases, our goal is to prevent incidents from happening, and our shared responsibility in keeping MCC's learning environment positive, respectful, and safe is key.
Umpqua Community College is located in an area of significant poverty and unemployment, and those directly affected by this tragedy will be facing both personal and financial challenges in the weeks and months to come. The Greater Douglas United Way is collecting funds to be distributed directly to UCC community members touched by this incident. Should you wish to assist your colleagues at Umpqua Community College, I hope you will join our students, Executive Dean Frater, Vice President Holmes, and me in donating to the UCC Strong Fund. Our students are working to match the $600 challenge from administration, and your support of their efforts would be meaningful.
Finally, I ask that you join in the National Moment of Silence in honor of the victims of the shooting at Umpqua Community College, tomorrow, October 8th, at 2:00 pm.
Please share your thoughts and questions on the blog.
Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
10/07/2015
Attachments:
 MCC_Campus_Safety.pdf
|