YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE ... psych!

Imagine this scenario: You’re sitting in a foreign policy discussion section trying to keep your eyes open. Suddenly something happens that wakes you up really fast. A gunman bursts through the door and begins lining you, your classmates and your instructor against the wall.\nAre these the actions of some deranged, bloodthirsty killer? Well, in this case, it’s the work of your friendly university administration. They’re trying to help you feel safer.\nJust eight days after five people were shot to death at Northern Illinois University, the administration of Elizabeth City State University thought it would be a good idea to test university preparedness for an attack by sending a campus police officer with a fake gun to storm into a classroom posing as a random shooter. Neither the students nor the assistant professor instructing the class had any idea that the scenario was only a test. At one point, the “gunman” threatened to kill the student with the lowest G.P.A. Students said that they were ready to start jumping out of the windows. People in a nearby classroom reportedly barricaded the door with tables and chairs, and sent text messages to their parents. After ten minutes of horror, campus police arrived to take the man away. Jingbin Wang, the assistant professor of the class, reported that even then they were not told that the event was only a drill. Regardless of whatever benign intentions the administration may have had, this whole episode was just cruel.\nOf course there was also the very real possibility that the undercover officer himself could have been attacked. Who could have blamed the students afterwards for harming or even killing the man? And if attacked, the officer would have had to defend himself as well. What if one of the students had been hurt in what was supposed to be a mock attack? This was just a bad idea all around, and the ones responsible for it should lose their jobs. Who would want to attend a university whose leadership was capable of making such bone-headed decisions? \nIt’s understandable that universities are scrambling to make sure they’re not the next Virginia Tech or NIU. Theories abound on the best way to foster a safe learning environment, and ultimately it’s the University’s administration that has to make the decisions on how to best accomplish that. Anthony Brown , Elizabeth City State’s vice chancellor for student affairs, explained, “The intent was not to frighten them but to test our system and also to test the response of the security that was on campus and the people that were notified.” Well, Mr. Brown, you did frighten them. There has to be a better way to evaluate the readiness of your procedures than to convince your students and staff that they are about\nto die.\nSo we respectfully say to President McRobbie and the rest of the IU administration: We know you love us. We know you want us to be safe and well-prepared for emergencies on campus. But you don’t have to stage armed intrusions into our classrooms to prove your dedication to campus safety.