LSU center, Board of Regents highlight statewide campus-safety work, training video

Speaker 1, an unidentified presenter, said LSU’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) has worked with Louisiana’s Board of Regents since 2020 to support emergency management and public-safety planning for the state’s higher-education institutions. The presenter said NCBRT helped design and host the state’s first higher-education public-safety summit alongside the Board of Regents and the LSU Police Department.

The work includes campus visits, building walkthroughs and lighting assessments, Speaker 2, an unidentified presenter, said. "We have gone to upwards of 30 institutions so far," Speaker 2 said, adding that after the visits the project team "will have a overview of every campus in the state." The transcript gives the institution count as "upwards of 30"; an exact total was not specified.

At the Board of Regents’ request, NCBRT produced an award-winning run-hide-fight training video intended for students, faculty and staff of Louisiana institutions of higher education. Speaker 1 said the video is publicly available and "has been viewed thousands of times," though an exact view count was not provided.

Speakers emphasized including students in assessments. Speaker 3 described being surprised by the level of detail gathered during interviews: "I didn't expect to learn as much today as I did," the speaker said, adding they planned to bring feedback back to their campus community. Speaker 2 said student involvement "gives us an opportunity to see the campus that we oftentimes don't see" and helps the team understand what would make students feel safer.

Project leaders said the assessment data will let the Board of Regents identify campus strengths and vulnerabilities and coordinate statewide responses. "Having this data puts them in a very, very powerful position," Speaker 2 said. No formal policy changes, motions or votes were recorded in the transcript; the record describes project activity, outreach and training materials rather than board actions.

The presenters framed the initiative as a multi-campus, data-driven effort to improve preparedness and campus safety; the transcript does not specify funding sources, a timeline for state-level action, or named officials leading the Board-level effort. The Board of Regents and LSU Police Department were identified as partners in planning and hosting the summit.