Staring intently at the Student Center ceiling, freshman history major Lauren Katona said, “I would climb up there in the tile and hide if someone with a gun were to walk in right now.”

A stiff laugh followed her statement, but her eyes were still glued to the ceiling, knowing one of her worst nightmares could come true.

Katona is just one out of thousands of students who experience fear surrounding the possibility of a school shooting. Unfortunately, shallow breathing, frantically texting a loved one and hiding to make oneself as small as possible could be realities for students everywhere.

These fears became even more prevalent after the tragic school shooting that occurred on the Michigan State campus Feb. 13. This act of cruelty took the life of three college students.

A BestColleges survey found 56% of students say they worry about their safety on college campuses, and 65% say their worries come from threats of gun violence on campus.

The fears of college students are certainly warranted. According to Everytown Research, there have been over 1,064 occurrences of open gunfire on college campuses nationally since 2013. This violence has killed 355 people and injured 754.

Kent State currently has many policies in place for student safety. However, they are missing one key safety component: a campus safety app.

Campus safety apps could be the next step to providing an even safer college experience than ever before. These apps have shown to be very useful in providing students with resources beneficial to their safety. They can create an easily accessible list of numbers and people to contact on campus if a student feels unsafe.

Many times, universities are rated based on the safety measures they have in place for staff and students. Additionally, these ratings are often based on the amount of crime or violence that occurs on the campuses.

“The last time that our university was rated was pre-COVID, and [the independent company] found our university to be the safest campus in Ohio and 25th in the nation,” said Kent State Police Sergeant Tricia Knoles.

Knoles said the rating was based on statistics from FBI crime reports.

Kent State is regarded with those ratings because of the current measures of safety in place at the university, Knoles said.

Currently, Kent State requires ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate) training for all incoming freshmen. ALICE is a type of training that prepares students for situations involving an active shooter. Knoles said faculty and staff are also encouraged to take these classes throughout the semester.

The KSU police department also holds frequent gun-threat trainings. The KSU police department, as well as the Portage County police department, ran an all-out scenario with actors while students were gone for the summer.

“Our department we train actually monthly, two days a month,” Knoles said. “We’re very fortunate here at Kent State that there is a lot of training.”

Several emergency management services send out text messages to students in the case of an emergency. This could cover anything from a tornado to an active shooter on campus.

“Another system, probably the most known to students, is Flash ALERTS,” said Kent State emergency management coordinator Vincent Marino. “Flash ALERTS uses text messages to notify registered users of an emergency.”

Additionally, there are over 40 blue light phones that connect to the police department throughout the university in parking lots and along walkways. There are also police officers patrolling on foot, bike and by car on campus 24/7.

However, people, including myself, are starting to fear the current policies and procedures held by universities like ours aren’t enough. In response to this growing fear of gun safety, colleges across the country are changing their safety and security policies to keep up with the changing and troubling times.

Simple changes have already been implemented at several universities.

As of Feb. 2, Bowling Green announced it is increasing the number of police officers on its campus.

On Feb. 22, The University of Toledo revisited its active shooter plan, “Run, Hide, Fight,” on its social media platforms.

“Anytime one of these events [mass shooting] happens in the nation, we do get an influx of requests for this training,” said University of Toledo police officer Jeni Gerber, in a video from UToldeo in the News.

But perhaps the most striking change universities are taking on their campus safety policies is the addition of campus safety apps. These apps provide direct contact with emergency services, as well as a way to report a threat to a campus security officer.

In recent years, amid rising safety gun safety concerns, many universities have started using apps for student safety.

A campus safety app works similarly to the blue light poles around campus. However, they are designed for mobile phones so a student who is not near a blue light pole can still access help.

In terms of gun safety on campuses, these apps allow students to easily and anonymously report anything suspicious they see or hear on campus. It also allows students to easily report when they feel uncomfortable or if they think something dangerous might happen to them.

According to one of the leading campus safety apps right now, Rave Guardian, the app “delivers critical information to the right people at the right time.”

Toledo urged students to download the Rave Guardian app after the fatal shooting at Michigan State University.

When a student presses the ‘panic’ button on the app, it contacts the people at Rave Guardian. From there, the app’s employees contact the police and send them the GPS location of the phone/student, if necessary.

In July 2019, Northern Illinois University began the use of the “NIU Safe” app. This app is like Rave Guardian in that it combines all facets of campus safety into an app that is easily accessible to all students.

“NIU Safe is a user-friendly app that will allow our university community to streamline emergency communications by providing a single site to access safety and security information and applications,” said Northern Illinois University President Lisa Freeman for NIU Today.

Miami University (OH) also started using Rave Guardian in November 2018 as a way to keep students safe.

“Calling 911 from a cell phone can slightly increase the response time in an emergency as location isn’t automatically known, as with a landline,” said John McCandless, chief of the Miami University police department, for Miami campus news. “But by filling out a safety profile and enabling GPS when texting or calling police, we hope to be able to respond more quickly to people in need.”

In August 2019, Ohio University dawned the “Bobcat Safe” app, which is similar to those mentioned above.

“I thought it was an excellent idea since cell phones have become ubiquitous, and we do not see the standing ‘blue light’ phones getting used as they were intended,” said Ohio University Chief of Police Andrew Powers.

With more universities beginning to use campus safety apps, Kent State should do the same.

As of right now, Kent State University does not utilize an app for student safety. The university currently only makes use of the KSU Mobile app, and while it does provide helpful features for students such as building maps and class schedules, it doesn’t provide safety features.

“I have looked at several mobile safety apps and to date, I am not particularly sold on their usefulness … the current public safety infrastructure for communications like these don’t make them as effective as they claim,” Vincent Marino said. “That being said, I am not totally against these apps. I continue to look at them as they come out.”

As of right now, it doesn’t seem Kent State plans on getting a safety app.

“I am not involved in the policy writing, but I don’t foresee it as of right now,” Knoles said. “I think that everything that we are doing is working great. However, there is always room for improvement.”

The Kent State Board of Directors would be responsible for enacting any policy changes in the future, Knoles said.

“I think that the more ways we can include security at our school the better. I think an app would be a great idea,” freshman history major Lauren Katona said.

Knoles said Kent State University has many measures in place to support student safety, but until any changes happen, students are encouraged to practice situational awareness. Students should always be vigilant when walking around campus, and report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or uneasy.

Students can call 330-672-SAFE(7233) to report any suspicious threats. But perhaps soon, students will be able to just easily open an app with all the information in one place to report any problems.

Olivia Montgomery is a guest columnist. Contact her at [email protected].