Called to action by the events last April, Virginia Tech revamped its methods for preventing catastrophe and coping with emergencies. While many university students will recognize specific changes such as the 24/7 locking of dorms and VT Alert system, other changes have likely gone unnoticed.

President Charles Steger organized three internal reviews on the Tech campus roughly three weeks after the shootings. The groups - the Security Infrastructure Group, Information and Communications Infrastructure Group, and Interface Group — focus on different aspects of strengthening safety and security on campus.

While the university agreed to attempt every recommendation offered by the groups, Mark Owczarski, university relations, cited the prioritization of cost as the most prominent reason why some actions will be taken sooner. A statewide budget cut has hurt the institution.

“We had to reduce our budget for this year at the governor’s request, a quarter of the way through the budget year,” Owczarski said. “Imagine planning to spend $100 over the course of one year, and then once you start to spend it, someone tells you that you only had $90 to start with.”

The most noticeable changes for the student body were made by the Security Infrastructure Group, which looked into the current security systems in place around campus and came up with recommendations for improvement, as well as methods for preventing emergency situations from occurring. They also looked into the university’s ability to communicate among its offices in the event of an emergency. …