April 16th, 2007 by Kathie Legg
First, MOpocket extended our deepest sympathies to the friends and families of the victims of today’s horrific events. Second, I must say that I am deeply appalled by this incident and deeply ashamed of the University for NOT getting this emergency information in the hands of the students quickly and efficiently.
CNN interviewed a student, Matt Taylor, a junior who was just a few buildings down from where the second shooting was. His class was going about their business as usual. They heard some noise outside and looked out the back window to see some police officers with assault riffles running by. They thought it was strange, but there had been a few bomb threats last week, so they wrote it off as nothing. About 10 minutes later, someone got a text message in class saying that there was a shooting on campus and at that point the professor asked them to stay in the room. When Matt finally returned home, the University email and website were down. The only news he is able to get is from the TV. Matt shares my disconcert with the University for allowing students on campus after the first shooting without giving anyone vital information.
“The one thing that came to a lot of people heads is why with the first shooting at 7o’clock this morning or whenever it was, why were we on campus at 9?â€
With today’s technology there is NO excuse for allowing these students on campus after a mass shooting in a dorm. Many lives could have been saved if these students were alerted to this compromising incident earlier and asked NOT to attend class. I understand that when university email is down that is difficult, but with the vast majority of students owning cell phones, why were they not sending alert text messages to everyone!? SMS, should be the new air raid siren. Especially when companies like Rave Wireless have been specializing in university and college mobile emergency alert systems (utilizing such technologies as SMS and GPS) as well as other university mobile services for three years now
Have we learned nothing from past tragic incidents? We NEED to get people information on how to remain safe and they have to come to the realization on where most people go for that kind of information. If students are becoming more unreachable because they are relying heavily on mobile devices then find away to incorporate the mobile phone into your university system. This is the University’s responsibility, the benefits will be immediate.
Virginia Tech, our hearts are with you and we are deeply sorry.
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