美国国家公共电台 NPR--Foundation started by Virginia Tech shooting victim aims to improve school safety

Foundation started by Virginia Tech shooting victim aims to improve school safety

Transcript¹

Kristina Anderson Froling is a survivor² of the Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007. NPR's A Martinez talks to her about the efforts of the Koshka Foundation that she started to make campuses safer.

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

Seventy-two. That's the number of mass shootings in the U.S. since just the start of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. And for a lot of survivors³, every new incident brings new pain.

KRISTINA ANDERSON FROLING: When events happen, for example, in the month of December, I think about how the holiday season will be forever different for those families, and the same for, you know, Valentine's Day and things like that.

KHALID: Kristina Anderson Froling was shot three times at Virginia Tech in 2007. She used donations sent to her family to start the Koshka Foundation. It's a nonprofit dedicated⁴ to helping⁵ prevent mass shootings and improving campus security. Our colleague A Martínez spoke⁶ with her.

A MART?NEZ, BYLINE⁷: Kristina, President Biden has said that gun reform is a priority for his administration. But with a divided Congress, change will likely be slow, if it ever even occurs. What should schools be doing to try to prevent school shootings from happening?

ANDERSON FROLING: School safety is really a multilayer response. A lot of times after these shootings, we focus on the physical security aspects, which are incredibly important, right? We want to think about how we are letting folks into our spaces, what type of visitor management policies we have in place so that a disgruntled employee or a parent that shouldn't be there, or whoever else, cannot just walk into a space. And that's obviously difficult in open campuses and things like that.

But one of the big changes in our country that was really inspired and launched by our shooting in 2007 was this recommendation that we should create threat assessment⁸ teams within our schools which work collaboratively. They would have folks from mental health, education, the principal, law enforcement come together and really try to be able to hopefully identify some of these threats before they become violent and put plans in place to manage that behavior and really, ideally, keep that student or whoever is acting⁹ out safe and keep them in the school, but also keep an eye on them in case they escalate¹⁰ and want to carry out their attack.

MART?NEZ: In the case of Michigan State University, the shooter does not appear to have any connection with the school. How would a threat assessment team be able to deal with someone like that?

ANDERSON FROLING: There was research that the FBI did many years ago about school shootings - or, targeted school shootings - and they found that only about 10% were by people that had no connection to the institution. And a good colleague and friend of mine, Dr. Gene¹¹ Deisinger, who works in this space, says during his trainings, that 10% is what keeps me up at night. That is much more difficult to prevent.

MART?NEZ: You know, the university, Kristina, that I went to here in Los Angeles is wide open. Anyone can just walk on in. And a lot of the public universities around the country are the same way. Now, some of the private universities, like, say, USC, University of Southern California - there are gates. They have security, ID checks, cameras. Should all public universities at this point start locking down?

ANDERSON FROLING: One are the biggest challenges - right? - of universities is maintaining that balance of being open and open to, you know, new ideas and learning. And it's hard to answer that question because every school is different, right? You really have to look at the institution and what's in place and what works best for them. But in general, yes. In general, we should be promoting people wearing IDs and badges.

I mean, this is very normal for workplaces, for corporations, right? You cannot walk into the headquarters of a bank or any other large company. And so I think it would be very, very beneficial, especially just to have that capability¹², even to lock a door, in our college classrooms.

MART?NEZ: Yeah. I mean, what does a school lose, a university loses if locking down is the best solution? You said it yourself. I mean, the whole point of a university sometimes is to promote the idea, like, this is open and accessible to everyone. But when there are gates and cameras, it almost goes against that feeling.

ANDERSON FROLING: We sometimes feel that gates and cameras make us feel really secure. For me, walking onto a campus that I feel like people are looking around; people will speak up if something seems suspicious. People will come to me and say, are you lost here? Can I help you? - putting up just a minimal¹³ ability to not be able just to openly walk into a large building or auditorium¹⁴. I think it also signals that we have something to protect here, which is the people that are inside our school.

MART?NEZ: But it sounds like you're saying that at the very least, the feeling of being safe on campus goes beyond what we see with the eye - in other words, the gates, the locks. It goes beyond that. It's that something deeper, beyond what we see on a campus.

ANDERSON FROLING: I think that that true sense of safety is, how invested are we as an individual? Has this school really put forth¹⁵ a plan? Are there activities around safety and security? Does every person feel connected to that institution? And do they care enough that they will report a broken window or a lock that should be fixed¹⁶?

Also, every campus police department is not armed. They really vary heavily across the board. But that is one question, right? Are they armed? What type of training do they receive? Because that dictates¹⁷ who will come. Is it the local department? Is it the county marshal, sheriff, things like that?

MART?NEZ: Yeah. I mean, it's 2023. If I'm a parent touring a school with my kid, you know, I want to see a nice library. I want to see a great student union, but also, I want to know what the security situation is.

ANDERSON FROLING: Absolutely. And I would definitely look into - I mean, there's a couple of things you can do. You can go to the website of the campus public safety office, where you would find out, is it a sworn public law enforcement agency, meaning, are they armed? What type of training do they have? They often have free classes or mobile app solutions, you know, for the students, for the parents.

But I would look really closely at the website for the threat assessment team. Parents can reach out to the chair of the team, who is usually someone in a student affairs capacity, and just ask very broad questions. Tell me about your safety planning. Have you considered the locks, the doors, the windows, the internal threats, right? There is not one question that will - that they can answer to tell us all of that. But if you start with a really light, open-ended question, based on their response, you'll have a sense of how much force, how much time, how much thought they've put into this. And I think the onus¹⁸ is on us as parents to be more inquisitive¹⁹ about those questions.

MART?NEZ: That's Kristina Anderson Froling, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. She also started the Koshka Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping schools, businesses and law enforcement prepare for active shooter scenarios²⁰ and also to try to prevent them.

Kristina, thank you very much for your story.

ANDERSON FROLING: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE FLASHBULB'S "PRECIPICE")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

11 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

12 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

13 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

14 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

15 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

16 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

17 dictates   

n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• Convention dictates that a minister should resign in such a situation. 依照常规部长在这种情况下应该辞职。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He always follows the dictates of common sense. 他总是按常识行事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 onus   

n.负担；责任

参考例句：

• The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot bedisclosed.政府部门有责任说明不能把信息公开的理由。
• The onus of proof lies with you.你有责任提供证据。

19 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

20 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓