Last Tuesday, Vice President of Campus Operations James Gray and Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan sent a school-wide email containing the link to a training video on how to survive an active shooter incident. 

In the email, the two said, “Although no one likes to talk about potential threats of violence on campus, we live in a world where, to protect the safety of our community, we must be prepared for worst-case scenarios.”

With this in mind, they continued, Brandeis’ Incident Command Team “recently screened videos that teach people how to respond if they find themselves in the vicinity of a shooting. We have selected this video, which has been adopted by many other universities, to share with you.” 

The video was made by the Ohio State University Police Department to prepare students in the event of an active shooter scenario. 

In the video, the police officers emphasize the mantra of “run, hide, fight” for the best chances of survival. The video also lays out the emergency alert system’s way of informing students of an active shooter situation. 

The first step, “run,” says that if there is an active shooter far away and it is possible to get out of harm’s way, individuals must run away from the situation and call the police.

The second step, “hide,” tells viewers to make every effort to go unseen if the shooter comes close to their area.

If running or hiding is not possible, the video offers a third step: “fight.” 

At that point, the video instructs individuals to grab a weapon, such as a fire extinguisher or chair, and fight for their life.

Following the video was a four-question questionnaire reviewing the information shown and reminding individuals to sign up for Brandeis’ emergency alert system if they have not done so already.

—Emily Blumenthal