Nearly six months after a student killed 32 people before turning a gun on himself at Virginia Tech, university officials across the country have had time to reflect on the massacre and determine how best to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring at their school.

According to a recent article in The Los Angeles Times, colleges nationwide are ramping up security efforts in the wake of the April shootings. Among them, USC, UC-Irvine and Pepperdine University have each rolled out new systems for alerting students on their respective campuses in case of an emergency.

USC’s “Trojan Alert” system uses various methods to reach students, including text messages and emails. The system is capable of immediately notifying all USC students and their parents in the event of an earthquake, malevolent gunman or other threat to campus safety.

Last May, President John Hennessy announced in a letter to the editor printed in The Daily that Stanford would be creating a committee headed by Vice President of Business Affairs Randy Livingston to review the University’s existing emergency protocols as well as campus-wide communication systems.

“Currently, Stanford can, within minutes, send an emergency email message to everyone with a Stanford email address,” Livingston said in an email to The Daily. “We can also deliver an emergency voice mail to each voice mailbox on the Stanford phone system.”

According to Livingston, the panel reviewed the Virginia Tech report findings, which largely criticized the school for its inability to contact students and lock down dormitories after the first of the two separate shootings occurred. Had communication been better and had classes been canceled, the report said, the death toll might have been lower.

The panel is still in the process of applying these ideas to campus safety programs at Stanford, Livingston said.

“Our emergency protocols are good, but the realities of today’s society demand that they be even better,” Hennessy acknowledged in his letter.

Many students are skeptical of both the possibility of such a tragedy happening at Stanford and of the effectiveness of existing campus safety measures.

“I don’t think that sort of thing would happen here,” said Pam Geist ‘08. “But if it did, we’d be no better off [even with the mass emails].”

Proposed plans to expand security at the University include a cell phone messaging system, an emergency instant messaging program and a “blast signal system,” which would utilize sirens or other audible warnings.

In addition, a system that identifies “at-risk” students at Stanford has been in place for a number of years, according to Livingston, who added that a number of campus departments, including Health Services, the Legal Office, the Dean of Students and the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, meet weekly to discuss potentially threatening incidents and students.

In his letter, Hennessy stressed that the University must do more to identify “at-risk” students who are potentially violent. Doing so in an appropriate manner that respects doctor-patient confidentiality, however, is difficult, he said.

“Stanford police have been trained to respond to ‘active shooter’ scenarios prior to Virginia Tech and practice responding to these calls as part of regular training and have done so for at least four years,” said Livingston, who added that each residence should have procedures in place in case of a gunman. He encouraged students to increase safety by reporting suspicious behavior and by closing doors.