Review of last week’s events leads to immediate improvements
HAMBURG, N.Y. – A review of campus safety procedures following last week’s arrest of a student resulted in immediate improvements in college policy around notifying students, Hilbert College President Cynthia A. Zane announced today.
Effective today, if faculty and staff are notified of a campus incident or report, students will be notified simultaneously. The college administrative team is also considering a series of student suggestions about how and when to communicate about safety issues. Those ideas will be considered by the college’s Campus Safety Committee, which has several student members.
Overall, the following changes are effective today:
- Hilbert updated its communication procedure and in the event of a perceived threat, students, faculty, staff, and parents will be notified simultaneously.
- Student representatives will continue to participate on the Campus Safety Committee, which meets throughout the year.
- Plans are underway to initiate additional training for faculty, student services staff, and athletics staff before the start of the next academic year.
- Hilbert administration will continue to support law enforcement and work collaboratively with the Town of Hamburg Police Department. Campus Safety will work with the Hamburg police to maintain vigilance on campus.
- Officials will continue a formal review of the college’s emergency management plan for other areas where improvements are possible.
“With the benefit of hindsight, we see several aspects of our past work that we would have handled differently last week, and we have identified several areas of learning,” Zane said. “We are sorry that at times our processes appeared to diminish the deep commitment we have to keep all of our students safe.”
Any further policy changes will be augmented after a thorough review of the series of events that transpired on campus. Town of Hamburg police arrested a 19-year-old freshman Wednesday and accused him of making threats to fellow students. He was arraigned in town court Friday on three misdemeanors.
Hilbert posted on its website last week that the Campus Safety Department "had received information, indirectly, that a student on campus was in possession of a weapon."
A safety officer looked into the matter and determined "that the threat was not credible and there was no imminent threat to the campus." The investigation continued, however, and police decided to make an arrest.
The college Thursday held an open forum for students and said it would continue to address individual student and parent concerns about campus safety, as they arise.
Partially as a result, college officials announced today that a class period would be abbreviated so students could hold a meeting on the campus quad from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. The meeting, organized by four Hilbert seniors, is to discuss improved communications and campus safety procedures. Classes will resume at 11:30 until 12:15 when the regular class schedule will continue.
Emails about the policy enhancements were sent today to faculty, students, staff, coaches and families.
The Hilbert College campus safety protocols are available via the following link:
https://www.hilbert.edu/student-life/campus-safety/reporting-a-crime-emergency
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 900 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and evening degree programs geared to adult learners.