The Post-Journal/OBSERVER sat down with the Institution’s Shannon Rozner, senior vice president for community relations and general counsel, and Wade Haubert, director of organizational safety and security, to discuss security for the upcoming season, which begins Sunday, June 25, with the three taps of the gavel.

Haubert is new to the Institution, hired in October. Ironically, he originally was to interview for his position on Aug. 12, 2022. That was the day that Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage, shortly before giving his lecture on the topic of the United States as a place of asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.

“I was not hired in response to it (stabbing); that was already in the works,” he said.

Rozner noted that Chautauqua has always had a chief of campus security. That person was responsible for supervising community safety officers at Chautauqua as well as creating policy for security and protection. She said they decided to split that position up, leaving one person to supervise the staff and the other to design policies and procedures.

Clear bags are now required on Chautauqua Institution grounds when attending an event.

“Wade organizes and designs the planning and Billy Leone, our chief of campus safety and security, implements it with his team,” she said.

Haubert has had a number of positions involving police and emergency work. Before coming to Chautauqua Institution, Haubert had been a police officer, and later worked in emergency management in Pennsylvania, Florida and California. He also served in the military.

“I’ve got every experience you can think of,” he said.

Chautauqua keeps certain aspects of their security close to the vest, avoiding sharing anything that could be used to compromise their goals. They wouldn’t say how many community safety officers they have or if that number increased after the attack on Rushdie. They have a number of high profile entertainers and musicians coming this season, but declined to comment which ones require an increase for security.

But the big thing that both Haubert and Rozner emphasize is that they continue to evaluate every aspect of Chautauqua, to ensure both safety and protection of guests, against not only criminals, but also in general emergency situations.

The Amphitheater has always had a gate policy. Residents who are attending Amphitheater events must enter through gates to see the event that is taking place.

“What I’m trying to do is implement some training standards and some policy standards — whether it be an armed attacker, or whether it be an entire block of buildings that’s on fire, or winter weather emergency, or food poisoning — any of those events, there’s commonalities in all of them, where they will require specific actions to respond do,” Haubert said.

Rozner noted one change local residents who visit the Institution will notice right away is their clear bag/clear container policy. “Anything larger than a clutch size bag needs to be see-through, so we can see what’s in it and help the screening process go more quickly and efficiently,” she said.

Other than the clear bag policy, not a lot will have changed from last year.

“Your experience will be mostly familiar,” she said. “You still need a gate pass to get into the gates during the season. You will be able to scan into the Amphitheater with that gate pass. You might see some things you’ve seen before like weapons detections systems, handheld wanding, but you may not. We have a risk assessment program that we run and it depends on what our risk assessment is for each event.”

Residents who live in Chautauqua, either year-round or during the summer months, may notice changes this year in terms of communication.

“We recognize that people need to and want to interact more with our security team and understand more about what their role is,” Rozner said. “Our team stepped up immediately after the attack to give people that comfort and that interaction and they haven’t let go of that.”

The attack on Rushdie hasn’t stopped people from returning. “I think most people are excited to be back and are focused on our resilience as a community, focused on the programs, and excited to participate in it. The year-round residents are excited to welcome back seasonal residents,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean the stabbing is forgotten. “The attack was a collective trauma and people are processing that together,” Rozner said.

And not all residents agree on what changes should take place. “There’s some that want to fortify Chautauqua Institution and others that don’t want anything to change. So there’s a very fine line and a balance that has to be made,” Haubert explained.

There have been some roadblocks along the way. The Institution tried to be able to deputize their officers, however, proposed legislation did not pass at the state level. At one point they looked into making their safety officers constables with the town of Chautauqua, but those efforts did not materialize either.

That means they must rely on the county’s dispatch center to notify them of an emergency 911 call. Rozner said that generally happens anyways.

Both Haubert and Rozner emphasize they have a great relationship with area police, including the Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police, as well as Chautauqua County Emergency Services.

In the end, Haubert is confident of Chautauqua’s safety.

“You can’t go anywhere in the world and just assume you’re in a bubble and you’re safe. … My family, my 2 and 5 year olds, are going to be on the grounds. I take that responsibility very seriously, not just for my kids but for everyone. We’re doing everything we can to make sure the experience is going to be safe. But we live in the real world, that’s why we need everyone to pay attention their surroundings, and please, if you see something, say something. Recognize the behavior and report if you’re concerned,” he said, adding “and enjoy yourselves.”