March 19, 2024

Safety at UMW

This following message is from the Office of Student Affairs:

Today, we at the University of Mary Washington mourn the victims of yesterday’s mass shooting at Umpqua Community College. Our hearts go out to those affected by the tragedy, including the victims’ families and the UCC and Roseburg, Oregon, communities.

As we seek to understand such enormous violence, let all of us at UMW redouble our efforts to keep our campuses as safe as possible.

Please know that we remain vigilant and regularly prepare for all manner of emergencies. Our campus police officers coordinate with local police agencies and State Police, and our faculty and staff have procedures in place for reviewing and responding to possible threats, whether natural or man made.

If an emergency incident occurs here, the UMW emergency alert network is activated. A unified message defining the emergency and providing instructions will appear on all UMW networked computers and Eaglevision screens. Also, if you have signed up for our alert notifications, you will receive an email and a text message. If you have not yet developed a UMW Alerts profile, you will receive an email later today with instructions for doing so.

As you have heard, the University now offers an added safety feature in the form of a mobile app known as RAVE Guardian. The safety app can be downloaded to smartphones free of charge by anyone in the UMW network. Once activated, the app provides the user one-touch connection to UMW Police or 911, displays the user’s GPS location, and enables a text or digital image to be sent. Tips are welcomed. The user also can set a safety timer to share with a selected group of friends or family members within his or her virtual safety network. The timer will alert friends, family, or emergency officials if the clock expires before the student has reached his or her destination.

We encourage all UMW students and employees to report any observations of suspicious behaviors or actions. Notify University Police by dialing 4444 or 7777 from any campus phone; or 540-654-4444 from any non-campus phone, including cell phones.

Please join me in not only keeping Umpqua Community College in our hearts and minds, but also keeping each other as safe as possible.

Sincerely,

Juliette Landphair

Vice President for Student Affairs