Full-scale public safety exercises and drills have become annual events that provide experience with a variety of emergency situations. (Photo by Stacia Vogel)
By Matt Thomas ’00
Ray Thrower was barely a month into his tenure as director of safety and security at Gustavus when the tornado struck the campus and the city of St. Peter on March 29, 1998. It was a chaotic and frenzied beginning to his career at Gustavus, but 10 years later Thrower has settled in and become an important asset and advocate for the campus.
Besides working tirelessly on improving campus safety and security at Gustavus, Thrower has recently had an impact on college campuses not only across the United States, but around the world. Thrower recently completed a volunteer term as president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA)—an association that advances campus public safety for its more than 1,200 educational institution members and 2,200 individual members by providing educational resources, advocacy, and professional development services.
Thrower’s term as president of IACLEA came at a crucial time for campus safety and security as a result of the April 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech University where an “active shooter” killed 32 people on that campus.
In response to the situation at Virginia Tech, along with subsequent “active shooter” situations at schools like Louisiana Technical College and Northern Illinois University, Thrower co-authored the IACLEA Blueprint for Safer Campuses, which provides recommendations for campus safety along with a summary of successes and failures from the response to the Virginia Tech tragedy.
“The fact is, what happened at Virginia Tech could happen at any college or university in the country,” Thrower said. “There is no way to completely prevent something like that from happening on your campus, but you can be adequately educated and prepared to respond to such a situation and that is what the Blueprint for Safer Campuses attempts to do.”
Other accomplishments during Thrower’s year-long presidency of IACLEA included establishing communication with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., through “Capitol Hill Day,” the creation of a Web-based resource library, and the creation of a Web-based campus crime prevention center for students and parents.
At Gustavus, Thrower has been determined to stay out in front of campus safety and security issues by being proactive rather than reactive. Through his recommendation, Gustavus implemented a new multi-layered emergency communication system that enables campus administrators and security professionals to reach all members of the Gustavus community with information and updates during unforeseen events or emergencies—within minutes—through phone calls, e-mails, web communications, and text messages.
Thrower has also initiated and helped lead annual full-scale public safety exercises and drills that allow Gustavus employees to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies to practice responding to different emergency situations.
Most recently, Gustavus hosted the Minnesota Valley Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) in a training exercise designed to simulate an active shooter situation. The simulation, which partnered local law enforcement with Gustavus Safety and Security, created an opportunity for the agencies on and off campus to get to know one another better and for the SERT to practice tactics.
“One of the things that we’ve learned is that we have to communicate and work together. This is why we do an exercise every year,” Thrower said. “It’s important that we practice what we preach, especially with our emergency preparedness plans and our policies and procedures that we’ve developed over the years. You never know if those plans are going to work unless you test them.”
Besides emergency response preparedness, Thrower’s department has many day-to-day responsibilities. The Safety and Security department provides Gustavus with 24-hour protection and emergency response expertise. The department provides a wide array of services including campus escorts, lost and found, room lockout services, and emergency transportation to the St. Peter Hospital. In addition, Thrower manages 10 full-time employees, five part-time employees, and 120 student employees.
“The Gustavus community is very lucky to have a security professional like Ray Thrower on campus,” said Hank Toutain, dean of students and vice president for student affairs. “Ray is an expert in his field and spends a lot of time reading and researching issues surrounding campus security to make sure Gustavus remains a safe place for students, staff, and faculty.”