Officials decide not to send e-mail alerting students to shooting

After the IU Police Department told campus administrators that the shooting situation around the 1300 block of West Arch Haven Avenue was contained, the decision was made not to send out a mass e-mail alerting students about the shooting, said IU spokesman Kirk White.\nHowever, when news began to circulate and the University received several phone calls from parents, information was put on the University Web site around 9:15 a.m. to quell the rumors, White said. \n“We started to activate limited parts of the critical incident communications system,” he said. This included an e-mail sent out to those on a system-wide listserv and also updates on various campus Web sites, including OneStart and the IUB Web site, which directed users to the campus status Web site.\nThis Web site informed visitors that there was no danger to those not in the immediate proximity of Second Street and Patterson Drive, and all activities on campus should continue as normal.\n“The entire situation was contained and there was no indication of a threat by campus boundaries,” White said. “There was no need to go to extreme measures like sending out an e-mail to all students.”\nSince the scene was contained, junior Caroline Blowers said she thinks there was no real need for IU to notify students.\n“In any situation where students are in danger, the University should make them aware,” she said. “But if it was already contained, then there was no potential threat.” \nBut some readers who commented on idsnews.com said they were not notified soon enough about the shooting incident. \nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said mass e-mails and similarly drastic means should only be used in cases that show a threat to students. \n“The incident took place a mile away from campus, and police had it contained,” MacIntyre said. “There was no danger and no threat in this situation.”\nWhile the new IU alert system will not be up and running for a few weeks, it will only be used in extreme conditions and probably would not have been used in this particular situation, MacIntyre said.\nHe went on to say that if the mass e-mails are abused and sent out for every incident that takes place in Bloomington, students will begin to ignore the e-mails and text messages from the University.\n“We want to use this only when we think there is a threat,” MacIntyre said. “If you see (an e-mail or text message) from IU Notify, you better read it.”