I have been talking about crisis communication in my Principles and Issues classes. I told one or both classes last week that while the university has somewhat provided faculty and staff with information about what to do in case of a hurricane, we are not prepared to handle something like a gunman coming into the classroom. I'm sure they weren't prepared at Virginia Tech. The biggest mistake the university seems to have made is not notifying students about the first shootings and having a campus lockdown when a gunman was on the loose.
From MSNBC:
"Not until 9:26 a.m. did the first warning to students and employees go out by e-mail, according to the time stamps on copies obtained by NBC News. By then, the shooting was over.
The first e-mail had few details. It said: 'A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.' The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.
Maurice Hiller, a student, told The Associated Press that he went to a 9 a.m. class just two buildings away from the engineering building and that no warnings were coming over the outdoor public address system on campus at the time."
What do you think Virginia Tech should have done? What do you think will be the fall-out from this incident?
Monday, April 16, 2007
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4 comments:
I absolutely think you cannot fault the VT in the way they handled the situation. I read the articles about the "late e-mail" last night and was talking to a friend about how frustrating I find it that the media would try to fault the school. The fact is this there was a shooting in a dorm at about 7 a.m., and as far as the investigators could tell they obviously thought this was an isolated incident. They estimated more than 24,000 were coming to campus and to release a warning that a gunman was the on the loose was have caused mass hysteria that would have been impossible to control. I think VT did the best job they could in handling the situation. If I recall correctly, when there was a shooting at USF last year and a man died, I read about it on a news webpage before I recieved any kind of e-mail or notification from the school....
In light of the current news, students may remember that when shots rang out on campus last semester most of us found out later that night on local news or on the Oracle. If anything, I feel that universities need to step up a notch from e-mailing a crisis to students, when most students check their mail the night before NOT in the morning before class. Using cellular technology such as moBULL, I think it is a great idea that the university send a mass text to students cell phones when their is a crisis situation on hand.Virginia tech could have used technology such as this to let students know classes will be postponed until furthur notice until the campus is considered safe.
From this situation, I think more colleges will pay closer attention to their crisis management plans and focus on implemeting better communicaton channels.
Yesterday, a man was arrested for having two guns and a knife on campus (which is a felony). Even though he was caught and has permits for the guns, University Police are not taking this matter lightly especially since everyone is on alert after the shooting rampage. USF sent out e-mails, just like VT however, I can only recall a handful of students that got notice through e-mail because most of us don’t check it 24/7. By the end of the day, still, many of us had no idea.
I think there is only so much a university can do to be prepared to handle a crisis like that of the VT shooting. It’s always harder to get a grasp of what we can do or how to be prepared for a crisis when we don’t expect it to happen, or when no one has a clue where the gunman is or where he’s going next. So many questions and concerns have come up with Campus Security issues Post-VT that it ultimately comes down to where some universities will draw the line.
There's been speculation about installing phones in every classroom. However, I feel that this is unethical, because if we grant that right, next will come security camera in the classroom and maybe even audio watching every students move. I wouldn't want to participate in any class discussion if it ever came down to that point.
I can see from both points of view in this situation. I understand the concern of the students and wanting to be aware of such a situation, but I also understand the situation the school is in to let the students know. Alot of the time when these situations take place, it takes a minute for the school to even know that it is going on. So they have to take that information and use it to the best of their ability to keep students safe until they know the complete facts. If you are in charge of letting the students know about these situations and all you know is that there is a gunmen killing students on campus, should you really send out a mass message letting students know creating a frenzy of college students running around possibly creating more harm than good. Or
you could wait until the authorities do there job and then let advise the students after the situation is over. There is only so much the school or anyone else can do to protect others when there are maniacs like the VT kid among us.
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