Dear Administration,
In light of recent efforts to ensure the safety of students on the local campuses, I feel as though Wednesday night's events were not handled well at all. I did not know specific details about what transpired that evening. However, when I heard from Twitter and Facebook that there was some sort of attack on campus and to "be safe" when out that evening, I felt as though that raised quite a cause for concern. After calling NDSP to inquire about my fellow students' and my personal safety, I was met with answers like: "not able to discuss at this time" and "call the Administration Office tomorrow morning." I mean, I live a stone's throw from Fisher Grad Apartments, maybe I should have knocked on Father Jenkins' door and he could have given me a better clue about what was going on. With advanced systems like ND Alert that are put in place for student safety, why, in this scenario, were they not being utilized?
As a resident of Virginia, my high school and neighborhood felt the direct impact of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Schools and universities have invested large amounts of money to protect their students from harm. So where was the disconnect in what happened that evening? According to Twitter and Facebook, it had been more than 45 minutes since said "attack" and I still hadn't heard any more information. Wouldn't having 8,000 plus pairs of nosy, undergraduate eyes in the loop about what was going on help spot a suspect or suspicious person? Or prevent an attack on someone else for that matter? All sarcasm aside, I feel that what happened tonight should have been handled differently by Campus Authorities. As I said before, I do not have the specifics, but I look forward to finding out what happened and I pray that everyone is alright.
Tommy Reagan
senior
off campus
April 28
