Duke professor feels unprepared for security threats

DURHAM, NC (WTVD) -- In the wake of recent high school shootings, Duke University is testing security on campus Wednesday.

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The university said the test is for its 40,000 employees and 15,000 students to review guidelines on how to respond to an active shooter.

A professor though is concerned her students are more prepared for an event than she is.

"We have become desensitized to a daily or weekly barrage of stories about violence in homes, in public areas and in our workspaces," said Robin Kirk, co-director of the Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke. "It really shouldn't be normal but it's become normal. Whenever there's a shooting especially a mass shooting, it brings up the question: 'What would I do?' Because it can happen anywhere?'"

Kirk responded after the Parkland shooting with a tweet to Duke and the rest of her Twitter followers.

"I don't know what I'd do," Kirk said, calling many of the students she teaches the 'gunfire generation.' "I haven't gotten any training. This is not part of my growing up and I'd be kind of paralyzed. But the students said: 'Oh we know what to do' because they've all been through this. I was really taken aback because I had not really made that kind of leap that their generation is really the generation that's been actively taught how to respond to something like this."

The university said it does quarterly tests of its alert systems as it is doing Wednesday. Duke also has an active police force that the university said tries to combat crime before it happens.

"The fact is that a lot of people come into this building that we don't necessarily recognize because they are students or service people or they're visiting," Kirk said. "I just hope schools like Duke take this seriously."