Over the last 10 days we have witnessed a natural disaster in Tennessee that devastated much of the Union University campus, and have seen a human tragedy unfold in Illinois, with the shootings at Northern Illinois University. We have watched these events unfold with sadness and concern for all of the individuals affected.

I want to assure you that the safety of our campus community is my top priority. We have a crisis management team that meets regularly, and an emergency response plan in place,which we are continuously updating and fine tuning. The staffs in Public Safety and Student Affairs undergo ongoing training to respond to emergencies of all kinds, and continuously assess situations and risks with the intent of preventing such tragic issues from occurring on our campus.

Should you experience difficulty in dealing with the events at UU or NIU, please remember that the counseling center is a resource for all students, faculty and staff.

I would also like to remind you about ConnectEd, which we implemented this year. This system allows us to quickly and efficiently communicate emergency information via email, text messaging and voice mail. The system is an excellent one, and we used it with great success to communicate a campus closing during a snowstorm. But ConnectEdis only as good as the data we have available. I encourage you to log on to myRWU and make sure that we have your current contact information on file.

And in the case of any weather or other emergency,www.rwu.edu is the best place for you to go for the most up-to-date information and announcements.

The Roger Williams family is a close and caring one. I know you join me in keeping the members of the Union University and Northern Illinois University communities in our thoughts during this time of physical and emotional rebuilding.
Sincerely,

Roy J. Nirschel, PhD
President