The University of Texas, Louisiana State University, and North Dakota State University experienced bomb threats within the last week, something every university fears, and something we hope MSU never experiences.
University officials ordered evacuations of their campuses by sending a mass text message, similar to the system MSU uses for weather-related updates and emergencies.
The University of Texas emergency alert stated, “UT ALERT: Immediately evacuate all buildings on campus get as far away from the buildings as possible. Further information to come.”
This university has roughly 10 percent of the student population of the University of Texas. MSU officials have stated, under the same circumstances, similar procedures would be followed.
In recent years, college security has been breached on more than one occasion, not just with bomb threats, but actual instances of students being physically harmed.
Virginia Tech has been a source of two scares within the last few years.
Director of Public Information, Julie Gaynor, said, “We have the MSU alert system set up to notify students and faculty. We would place an emergency alert on the front page of the school’s web site, and we would do everything we could to get everyone off campus as quickly as possible.”
Students should sign up for the emergency alerts. This will help to better inform people on what is going on around campus in the event of an emergency.
It is great that the university has procedures in place to help reduce panic in the event something like this ever happened. But, still more must be done to ensure safety.
Last week, we reported on a man exposing himself at Sikes Lake. An alert went out to students, faculty, and staff after the instance had already been dealt with.
The alert system would be more affective if students were informed in a more timely manner.
The same can be said for alerts regarding school cancellations. The university sends updates for university closings at six or seven in the morning.
Students who commute to school from different cities need more notice than an hour before classes. The university needs to make the alert system a more reliable source for students. The only way this can be done is doing things in a more timely manner.
Based on a lack of communication to students, a similar bomb threat to our university could be very unorganized. In an event of an actual bomb, the results could be devastating.
Both the administration and students need to be on the same page. Officials need to ensure every single student is on the alert system. Both an e-mail and a text message goes out on the emergency alert system.
The problem is not everyone checks e-mail or even has it attached to their phones. Phone numbers are often out of date. If that documentation is updated, students are protecting themselves from potential danger.
Our staff at the Wichitan will do our best to update our readers with information as we find out about it live from our social media accounts. For up to date information about what is going on not only on campus, but current events happening all over.
The Police Chief Dan Williams along with the Human Resources Department will be hosting an informative presentation on how to stay safe in the event of a shooting. “Shots Fired,” Responding to an Active Shooter in the Workplace”
Multiple presentations will be held in Shawnee Theatre in CSC on Sept. 20, 25, and 27. Each day will have a morning and afternoon session, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
This year, university officials have pushed social media, and are doing a great job updating students via Twitter and Facebook.
The same urgency is needed with the emergency alert system. The Wichitan suggests each student subscribes to the text message and e-mail updates from the university. It will be worth the 2 minutes to do it.