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>>See Week of Welcome activities on pg. A5
The student newspaper at Florida Gulf Coast University @fgcueaglenews
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CONSTRUCTION
As plans for a south entrance to the university advance, student activist raises a flag
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University Police aim to raise awareness of gun safety on campus by offering a new training program to faculty and staff. From being aware to taking action, the new hour-long training program being offered at FGCU, “Response to an Active Shooter,” educates staff and faculty on the proper safety procedures if an active shooter were to come onto campus. “Columbine showed us that our thinking was completely wrong,” said Steven Engle, senior officer. Engle spoke to an audience of 25 on Aug. 10. The Columbine High School massacre was not the only tragedy that gave UPD the incentive to improve their gun-safety awareness on campus. The shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 that resulted in 33 deaths and more than 20 students injured by a student gunman who took his own life influenced UPD to put a stronger emphasis on the response and warning systems at the university. <e^c\ “Every incident is different. You need to think on your feet,” Chief Stevenb Moore said. “The program is to get people in the right mindset.” “Shots Fired: When Lightning Strikes”, a 20-minute video, was shown to the audience and addressed how to develop a “survival mindset.” “You need to open your eyes to things and think about things you’d rather not consider,” Engle said. As of now, FGCU has a couple forms of safety precautions implemented on campus. Chief Moore said one technique being utilized by a few thousand students and staff is text alerts, a text messaging system that alerts students when a hazardous incident
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may be occurring on campus. Students can set up their cell phone to receive text alerts from UPD by visiting FGCU’s home page and typing “text alert” into the search bar located on the top right screen. Moore encourages students to take advantage of text alerts so they can be aware of what is happening on campus. “It takes one minute to sign up,” he said. Engle, who has been working at FGCU for the past nine years, believes college campuses should be a refuge from crime. “Students are here for a common cause,” he said. “They’re here to learn.” Third-year-student Dayna Adams said she feels safe at FGCU’s relatively small campus. “The students that go here just don’t give me a vibe that I need to be scared at night,” Adams said. UPD is considering offering the course to students because of the success of the program with the faculty. More than 200 faculty and staff members have taken the course. “It’s just not for here at the university,” Engle said. “It’s for everyday life,” Officer Engle said.
Construction is an undeniably necessary part of FGCU’s progression as a growing university. Some students, however, are concerned with the way in which FGCU’s development is impacting the natural habitat and animals that reside in this region. Jordan Donini, a senior majoring in biology, is particularly concerned about one species — the threatened gopher tortoises that he has encountered during his on-campus research. “The location of these gopher tortoises is in some of the last uplands habitat on campus. This uplands habitat is currently scheduled to be bulldozed for a new entrance road, as well as a recreation center,” Donini said. The tortoises inhabit only upland areas due to their propensity for digging deep burrows that would easily flood if built in low-lying areas. “These burrows not only provide homes for the gopher tortoise, but also act as a miniature ecosystem for hundreds of other organisms, including frogs, snakes, small mammals, insects, etcetera. This makes them a keystone species,” Donini said. “As a biology major and one greatly involved with the tortoises on campus, I’m very concerned for the well-being of these animals.”
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>> TORTOISE pg. A3
J`o jkl[\ek j\eXk\ j\Xkj XmX`cXYc\ 9p <X^c\ E\nj jkX]] Student Government Senate is currently looking to fill six open Senate seats, as follows: Three seats open in the College of Arts and Sciences, and one seat open in the College of Education, Graduate Studies and the College of Health Professions. Any registered student can apply to be a senator. Applicants must be able to attend weekly senate meetings held on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and serve on a committee, which meets once a week. Applicants must also be in good academic and disciplinary standing with the university and maintain a 2.5 GPA. Student senators are responsible for distributing Activities and Services fees to registered student organizations, who go through a bill process to request funds. Applications are due Thursday, Sept. 8 by 5 p.m. to Stacy Hopkins in Student Union office 288. Visit www.eaglenews.org to download an application.