Deadline is Friday
to withdraw from
classes with a 'W'
Volume 83, Issue 24 Web Edition
SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
March 21, 2018
WALKOUT
BC students and community members
stand together with a message of unity
By Mary Lewe
staff Writer
Wednesday, March 14 may have begun as a
typical school day, but at 10 a.m. schools across
the nation came alive with the spirit of protest as
students abandoned classrooms for 17 minutes
to demand change in the wake of increased gun
violence and mass shootings.
The #Enough National School Walkout was
conceived by the Youth EMPOWER sect of
the Women’s March Network and had wide
participation. The walkout was held one month
after the Feb. 14 school shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School which claimed
17 lives in Parkland, Florida.
Less than two weeks after the Parkland school
shooting, Brevard College experienced a fearful
hour-and-a- half when the campus was locked
down after a parent reported a rumor of a
possible shooter. Thankfully, this incident was
benign, but it roused SGA President Lauren
Fowler to action. As she waited in a locked and
darkened classroom, she began to plan Brevard
College’s own walkout.
Although Wednesday morning was cold and
windy, the Transylvania Times estimates that
100 students, faculty, and community members
gathered at the Bell Tower to join thousands of
others across the country in saying “enough.”
“It is this kind of love and activism that
changes a nation,” Fowler said as she welcomed
and thanked partieipants. She then turned the
mic over to campus minister Sharad Creasman
who held a moment of silence for those lost to
gun violence and a prayer giving thanks for the
freedom and strength which made the event
possible.
“Hope—even in the midst of despair—comes
because people believe and dare to stand,”
Creasman said. “There are students who have
the courage to stand, and show us that there’s
still hope for a better future, a better tomorrow,
and a better today.”
Campus counselor Dee Dasburg also spoke,
acknowledging the effect the campus lockdown
had on Brevard College students saying “a little
bit of our innocence was lost” that day.
“Since 1999 there’s been about 25 fatal school
shootings,” Dasburg said. She continued by
sharing her memory of the horrific Columbine
See 'Walkout' on page 6
Students and community members gather on Wednesday, March 14 in protest.
Updated BC
emergency
response
plan released
The college released an updated emergency
response plan on Friday, removing language
from the previous plan that instructed people on
campus to exit buildings during an active shooter
situation “if it is possible to do so safely.”
The new plan removes that instruction to
exit buildings. “When you become aware of an
incident, if you are in a classroom or office,” the
new plan recommends, “remain in the room you
are in and initiate Shelter in Place procedures.”
The policy defines those procedures as
follows; “Shelter in Place means to stay in the
room you are in, lock the door, go to a comer
of the room that is not exposed to any window
(including any window in a door), turn out the
lights, do not make any noise.” The policy also
says to call 911 and Campus Security at 577-
9590 “only if you feel it is safe to do so.”
The new policy was announced to campus
via an email sent Saturday morning by Stan
Jacobsen, director of safety, security and risk
management at Brevard College. The full policy
can be downloaded from the college website at
https://brevard.edu/campus-safety and on MyBC
by visiting the Office of Campus Life page and
selecting Campus Security.
A front-page article in the March 14 issue
of The Clarion highlighted what were at the
time the college’s official emergency response
procedures, based on the plan that had been
updated as recently as Feb. 14, 2018.
Thirteen days later, that plan was put to the
test when the college received a credible threat
of a possible shooter on campus and lockdown
procedures were initiated across campus. The
most recent update to the plan (on March 16,
2018) is an attempt to apply some of the lessons
learned during the Feb. 27 lockdown.
More changes to the college’s emergency
response procedures may be forthcoming, and
The Clarion will continue to report on them as
they are implemented.
—John Padgett