On Campus Prepping For College Students

[RitaRose1945]

Glad to see some activity on this thread.  I don't attend college as a student, but I do work there as staff now.

Honestly, I would say that situational awareness goes a LONG way toward preventing bad things in the first place.  And when they can't be prevented, you would do well to spend off times exploring your campus, learning all of the "out of the way" spots and making friends with the people who have the keys to all of the heavy locked doors and rooms no one knows even exist.

[soupbone]

I would seriously reconsider keeping firearms or other obvious weapons in a dorm room. The BEST bad thing that can happen is that someone sees it and reports you - how would "expelled for weapons" look on your transcript? The worst is that that drunken roommate of yours finds it and... (add whatever stupid, tragic event you want here).

This is where you seriously weigh the probabilities of needing a 'weapon'. As I see it, that probability is statistically insignificant. Most college campuses are safe places, and the inadvertent discovery of an illicit or illegal device is not worth the risk.

In event of a major incident, the school will probably be shut down, so your preps should include "get-out-of-Dodge" money and a way of calling home. Friends who live off campus, or profs you know well, are also an asset. It also helps to be on friendly terms with the Campus Cops - "Hey, can I wait here......?" Likewise, having a favorite off-campus restaurant, drug store, tobacco shop, etc. that you frequent and are known at will be to your benefit. "Hey, can I wait here......?" You should strive to be more than a nameless, faceless 'student' and build ties within the local community.

If the school is shut down, you will have a limited time to clear out - it will be grab-and-run at the dorms, so having such things as climate suitable clothing, comfortable footwear and toiletries ready to go will be to your advantage. Expect traffic tie-ups, both on-campus or in the vicinity of the school. If you are going to have someone come and get you, it is best to meet at a well-known location at least a mile from school. If you are on foot, you may be stopped and interviewed by the cops or have to pass through checkpoints. This is where it is good to know your local LEs, and not have any obvious weapons. Cooperate with them - things are jumpy enough as it is, don't add to it. Keep your mouth shut, your opinions to yourself and strive to be as gray as possible.

Now I admit that my experience in on-campus disasters is limited; I was only involved in one - Kent State, May 4, 1970 - but I find it hard to envision a more difficult situation.

soupbone

[RitaRose1945]

I would seriously reconsider keeping firearms or other obvious weapons in a dorm room. The BEST bad thing that can happen is that someone sees it and reports you - how would "expelled for weapons" look on your transcript? The worst is that that drunken roommate of yours finds it and... (add whatever stupid, tragic event you want here).

This is where you seriously weigh the probabilities of needing a 'weapon'. As I see it, that probability is statistically insignificant. Most college campuses are safe places, and the inadvertent discovery of an illicit or illegal device is not worth the risk.

In event of a major incident, the school will probably be shut down, so your preps should include "get-out-of-Dodge" money and a way of calling home. Friends who live off campus, or profs you know well, are also an asset. It also helps to be on friendly terms with the Campus Cops - "Hey, can I wait here......?" Likewise, having a favorite off-campus restaurant, drug store, tobacco shop, etc. that you frequent and are known at will be to your benefit. "Hey, can I wait here......?" You should strive to be more than a nameless, faceless 'student' and build ties within the local community.

If the school is shut down, you will have a limited time to clear out - it will be grab-and-run at the dorms, so having such things as climate suitable clothing, comfortable footwear and toiletries ready to go will be to your advantage. Expect traffic tie-ups, both on-campus or in the vicinity of the school. If you are going to have someone come and get you, it is best to meet at a well-known location at least a mile from school. If you are on foot, you may be stopped and interviewed by the cops or have to pass through checkpoints. This is where it is good to know your local LEs, and not have any obvious weapons. Cooperate with them - things are jumpy enough as it is, don't add to it. Keep your mouth shut, your opinions to yourself and strive to be as gray as possible.

Now I admit that my experience in on-campus disasters is limited; I was only involved in one - Kent State, May 4, 1970 - but I find it hard to envision a more difficult situation.

soupbone

Yes, this.

Not only do you (at best) jeopardize your ability to stay on campus and further your education, you (at worst) run a very serious risk of someone getting ahold of any weapons and using them to hurt either themselves or others.  It's just not worth it.  The impact on your future is very little benefit at a very large risk.

My campus doesn't allow weapons of any kind for anyone other than police.  Being me, I asked the Powers That Be if pepper spray was considered a weapon (in front of a bunch of people, in case it came up) and was told "It depends on how you use it", as either a weapon or self defense.  So there ya go.

[sbarber]

I think that a system of cache's would be a great asset. They could also be made cheaply and well. I would start of with a five gallon bucket and fill it with several types of food that will keep for a long time and other survival items maybe some water bottles. I would probably store mountain house backpacking meals, which can be found on sale from time to time or another cheaper off brand version. Those caches would be the closest to my location so that I could grab the light weight food quickly and not have to worry about cooking a complicated meal or soaking beans or anything. I would also store a two liter pop bottle full of potato flakes and  an 02 absorber. This is good because it is inexpensive, has a lot of carbs for energy, keeps well for a few years and is stupidly easy to prepare. they can even be eaten cold but they don't taste great that way. I would take the bucket seal it up with duct tape. Then I would wrap it up in some trash bags and bury it close to the surface of a location I have picked. The caches that I would put nearest large populations would contain no metal at all thus making them hard to stumble across when metal detecting. The ones farther out might contain some metal. I think that if you planned out several escape routes to get home and buried caches at intervals that would be a few days apart as far as walking distance. I think it would be better to over estimate the amount of food you should store for your trip home. Because you can always leave food behind if you cant carry it or eat it but it is alot harder to make food appear when you need it.

[Wild Colonial Boy]

Having looked over the previous posts I sense the SHTF scenario's being prepared for are on the more extreme end with a low probability (i.e. Guns on Campus).

What I haven't seen anyone mention were two key SHTF issues which were common place with young people living away from home for the first time and highly probable:

1/ Practicing Safe Sex.....A ready supply of condoms (regardless of whether your a guy or girl). These can often be sources from a Campus / Student Free Health Clinic.

2/ Surviving Hangovers.....Berocca or another similar hangover cure. 

If you have the above two issues covered, many minor and at times embarrassing crises can be averted.

[soupbone]

Good points, WCB. I'd add: "NO! means NO!" and "DON'T DO DUMB S#!T!". The former is self-explanatory in today's campus environment; the latter includes not putting yourself in a position where you cannot differentiate between dumb s#!t and not so dumb s#!t - as you allude to in your #2.

It's nice to see some of these threads resurrected on occasion - shows that the world did not end or society collapse since the earlier posts. Gives you a little more faith in the human condition.

soup

[allofthemonkeys]

For those in the dorms, if you are concerned about personal safety you can keep a can of pepper spray and a baseball bat in your room.  You can even find an old mitt at a garage sale or thrift store to sell a rouse that you like baseball.  Very few places that I know of will punish you for pepper spray, especially women. 

[osubuckeye4]

For those in the dorms, if you are concerned about personal safety you can keep a can of pepper spray and a baseball bat in your room.  You can even find an old mitt at a garage sale or thrift store to sell a rouse that you like baseball.  Very few places that I know of will punish you for pepper spray, especially women.

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but you should probably check with your RA or Hall Director before bringing the baseball bat into the room.

That's something that I don't think has really been mentioned. If you have to live in the dorms, get to know your hall director. You don't need to have dinner with him/her once a week or anything, but do introduce yourself and put a face with a name EARLY.


Even approaching him/her and saying, "hi my name is ___, I play on a baseball team every weekend. Is it okay if I store my bat/glove in my room, or are those off limits?" will go a long way. The last thing you need is someone getting busted for a knife, and them turning around and telling the hall director that you have a bat in your room, and ending up getting in trouble for it.


All I'm saying is, if disputes arise (and they oftentimes do in the dorms), you want the RA/directors to know that you're a good person and not have them immediately take an offensive stance with you.

[RitaRose1945]

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but you should probably check with your RA or Hall Director before bringing the baseball bat into the room.

That's something that I don't think has really been mentioned. If you have to live in the dorms, get to know your hall director. You don't need to have dinner with him/her once a week or anything, but do introduce yourself and put a face with a name EARLY.


Even approaching him/her and saying, "hi my name is ___, I play on a baseball team every weekend. Is it okay if I store my bat/glove in my room, or are those off limits?" will go a long way. The last thing you need is someone getting busted for a knife, and them turning around and telling the hall director that you have a bat in your room, and ending up getting in trouble for it.


All I'm saying is, if disputes arise (and they oftentimes do in the dorms), you want the RA/directors to know that you're a good person and not have them immediately take an offensive stance with you.

As someone who works with college students, I 100% agree.

[TheLastBoyscout]

I live near a decent sized campus and was involved in a conversation about this recently with a few students.  This campus has many foreign students so there was a variety of views.