A Severe Storm Refuge Area bulletins is posted on the wall in the basement of Couch Center. Dozens of posters similar to the one shown are on display in every floor of the dorms, displaying safe places to stay during severe weather. Jacob Vogt / The Daily

OU’s Housing and Food Services is taking new steps to ensure occupants in the dorms are ready for the next round of severe weather following the June 12 tornado that hit Norman.

Housing and Food has ordered new tornado safety placards to be placed in Couch Center because many of the 500 residents had little idea what to do June 12, said Jennifer Brewer, a camp counselor for the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism and a recent OU public relations graduate.

Even camp counselors, who are expected by Housing and Food to be in touch with all the safety procedures, were generally unaware of how to face the tornado warning, she said. The chaos that followed raises a very important question: Is OU truly prepared for a tornado?

Brewer said she witnessed the participants’ panic during the tornado warning. Brewer said she was on the 11th floor when the warning was issued. Not knowing what to do, she said she went downstairs to ask the help desk, and was told to go the basement.

She was able to shepherd most of the students on her floor into the basement and went back to the 11th floor to get the rest. When the tornado warning system came on, instructing residents to go the “designated area,” she said.

“It doesn’t even say where the designated area is,” Brewer said. “The alarm blaring should have said the designated area was the elevator lobby.”

When she returned with the second group downstairs, they were held up at the fifth floor due to a stairwell clogged with people trying to access the basement. The sirens were going off, and adding to the confusion was a football coach yelling for no girls to be on his floor. Brewer said eventually a resident adviser led them to the second floor stairwell, which is a designated safe zone.

According to Brewer, part of the problem June 12 was a general lack of information. Brewer said she was never given any information on what to do in the case of a tornado. She said the only advice she had was printed on a single tornado safety procedure sign located in the basement.

Lauren Royston, spokeswoman for Housing and Food, said that all camp counselors were given an information packet which told them what to do in the case of a tornado.

“They get a packet detailing safety procedures and are encouraged to read it,” Royston said. “We try to make sure camp counselors distribute the safety information. Upon checking in, they also get staff numbers.”

But Brewer said she never received any such packet.

“I never received a packet or anything, even after it happened,” Brewer said. “Evidently it was given to our supervisor, and I’m not even positive she got it. Definitely whenever we checked in, they should have gone ahead and given us one of these things.”

OIDJ Camp Counselor Megan Bryce also said she never received a packet.

“We had to go off our natural instinct,” Bryce said. “Had that been a real tornado [that struck campus], that’s really scary when you’re responsible for those kids. It was just chaotic. We didn’t get any guidance from the people who were supposed to be keeping it under control.”

Royston said Housing and Food does everything it can to make sure counselors receive safety information. OU Summer Camp Coordinator Pam Sullivan said the university sends e-mails to incoming camp supervisors and counselors with attached packets detailing safety.

“The way we’ve always approached safety is that it’s everyone’s responsibility,” Royston said. “We encourage that camp counselors share the information with all campers.”

Royston said basement overcrowding shouldn’t be an issue, and that one person is expected to fit for every two square feet of space.

“Technically, the basement can hold a substantial number of individuals,” Royston said.

According to a safety and security packet Housing and Food distributes to sponsors, coaches and chaperones who stay in the dorms in the summer, residents in Couch or Adams should take shelter in either the basement or central core of the buildings from floors two through six. The packet says residents in Walker should take shelter in the basement while construction is going on.

Aaron Gleason, an intern meteorologist at the National Weather Center, said that he would not comment on Housing and Food’s current tornado safety policy, but said that in general with tornadoes, the lower one can get the better. But he also said that some tornadoes are so strong that one would definitely want to be in the basement.

“In general the best place to be is away from windows and interior hallways,” Gleason said. “I know the dorms have basements which would be a safe place to be. You will be safe in a basement. But if that’s not possible, get as far interior as you can.”

But to Brewer, based on the events of the June 12 tornado, the university isn’t prepared for the worst.

“I freaked out,” Brewer said. “It scared me that I had the lives of 27 campers in my hands, and I was responsible for them.”

Royston said it’s the responsibility of counselors and supervisors to make sure everyone understands safety procedure.

“Safety is every single person’s responsibility, and we really just want to make sure everyone understands they are responsible for following the rules and doing their best,” Royston said.

She also said a repeat of the June 12 chaos was unlikely to happen during the school year.

According to its safety and security information packet, Housing and Food recommends residents take immediate shelter in the designated areas after a steady storm siren of three to five minutes, and that shelter space should be identified in advance.

“During the academic year, it’s a completely different environment,” Royston said. “We have experienced students and available staff to make sure students have the information in a timely manner. During the academic year we have a full staff to make sure those procedures are adhered to. They receive that information in their first floor meeting.”