Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon Health and Science University will hold a public meeting Thursday to talk about arming its campus safety officers. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Following school shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois universities, OHSU has been considering how it would respond to a gunman on campus.

Emergency manager, Joe Partridge, says they currently rely on Portland Police, who could take 20 minutes or more to get to campus.

Joe Partridge: “Looking at data from shooting incidents at other campuses around the county, we see that that level of response may not be adequate to our needs. Given that that’s the case, it’s prudent to investigate other options.”

Partridge says no decision has been made.  The school has three locations covering 400 acres and about 16,000 employees and students.

A task force has been asked to make recommendations to OHSU’s president by November 14th.