A.L.I.C.E Workshop Creates Safer Environment On Campus

In 2009, Kent State required faculty and staff to take an interactive, 90-minute workshop about what to do during active shooter incidents. In 2010, Kent State required freshman enrolled in the First Year Experience course to attend these workshops.

The A.L.I.C.E workshops are, according to Kent campus police officer Michquel Penn, “lockdown procedures on steroids.” The workshop includes lecture, demonstration, and direct student involvement. In April, 7,000 faculty, staff members and students attended the A.L.I.C.E workshops.

“A.L.I.C.E, in my opinion, really enhances lockdown. It gives additional options other than locking down and sheltering in place,” said instructor and Kent campus officer Michquel Penn. “We watch a video and we look at some data from past incidents.”

The workshop was extended toward students after the Provost Leadership Program pitched the idea to provost Todd Diacon. When Provost Diacon agreed to the idea, A.L.I.C.E became a requirement for all freshmen.

“[The Provost Leadership Academy] are a group of first year students, and they work throughout their first year to choose a project to improve the campus community in some way,” said student success coordinator Monica Hermann. “One of the groups last year chose to have A.L.I.C.E training as a requirement for all first year students.”

In 2014, Hermann opened 12 sessions to about 200 students per session, all of which were usually full.

“From the students that I have seen or heard while coming out of [the workshop], they find it interesting, eye-opening and something they have never thought of before,” said Hermann.

The response to A.L.I.C.E grew after Kent State’s shooter incident in April 2014, where many students contacted Officer Penn and shared their experiences of the event.

“With the incident that we had on campus back in April, I had people email me afterward and say what they were able to do and how they felt,” said Officer Penn. “We saw picture that people tweeted of their barricades and messages that said ‘the best part of A.L.I.C.E is getting to use what you learned.’”

According to surveys students were able to take after attending the workshop, reactions were positive, with comments such as “the trainer not being afraid to show us what to actually do and allow a student to demonstrate,” “tips on how to distract shooter and how not to be a static target,” and “most helpful was how to take down a shooter” when asked what the most valuable or helpful component of the workshop was.

“We don’t want students to feel like they’re forced into it,” said Hermann. “It’s just something that we find valuable because of the applicability of it. Although it may not seem applicable to them now or they can’t understand why, we just want them to feel the most prepared that we can in case something were to happen.”