Campus reveals plan to extinguish doubt

What do a hardhat, gloves, a flashlight, goggles, a safety vest, safety tape and a little training all have to do with keeping California State University, Long Beach’s campus safe? Everything.

Each of these items must be within close reach in case of an emergency to all of the marshals trained by the school in evacuation. The Building Marshal Program is a training plan that quickly and efficiently readies marshals for systematic clearing of every building on campus. This program is essential in making the campus ready for any threat against it.

CSULB shields itself from the potential for any harm against its students or faculty as the seventh-year anniversary of September 11th passes, by training as many marshals in the Building Marshal Program as possible.

“We’re preparing them for the real thing,” said Sgt. Scott Brown of the CSULB Police Department.

CSULB’s little-known emergency plan has been successfully staying under the radar for the past several years. The program is actually a highly specific evacuation plan drawn up by specialists in risk prevention.

Each building on the campus is staffed with two marshals trained to handle anything from hurricanes to terrorist threats. In the event of a real threat, these marshals put their life in danger to protect the campus for the benefit of the masses. The marshals not only evacuate the buildings, but also, secure entryways, direct foot-traffic away from danger and deny anyone re-entry into the building before given official authority to do so.

Who are these brave men and women?

Every one of the marshals is a volunteer member of the faculty or staff. These individuals contact the emergency coordinator in order to be trained for three arduous hours to maintain campus safety. Basically, these people are not being paid a cent for their troubles. The marshals do their duty out of their want for safety maintenance throughout the campus.

“Are students allowed to volunteer with the marshals to have this title also?” asked student Chris Smith.

Unfortunately, because of the nature of the setting, the plan denies students access to the program.

“We greatly appreciate everyone’s cooperation with the drills,” said Sgt. Scott Brown who heads the Building Marshall Program. “They are an important part of making this campus safer.”

Sgt. Brown hands over his position to Sgt. Rick Goodwin at the end of this year after five years of service.