Campus safety: we're not doing all we can

The shooting at Purdue University once again brought the discussion of school safety and gun control into the public sphere. So far in 2014, there have been seven school shootings in the United States, in Tennessee, Connecticut, New Mexico, Indiana, South Carolina and two in Pennsylvania.  

With this shocking number of school shootings in one month alone, IU students are reassessing just how safe we feel on our own campus.

During the shooting at Purdue, professors were reported to have joked about the incident or ignored it completely. Some professors propped doors open instead of shutting doors like they’re supposed to do.

Meanwhile, Purdue ALERT, the West Lafayette school’s equivalent to IU Notify, told students to resume normal daily operations only an hour after the shooting had occurred. At this point, the shooter had been arrested, but police scanners were still reporting more shooters may have been involved.

The Editorial Board is concerned that the problems with Purdue ALERT could potentially happen at IU, with equal or greater effect.

We feel it’s pertinent for the administration to learn from the aftermath of the Purdue shooting and do everything within its power to continue building tangible, effective safety protocols.

This academic year at IU, we’ve had three incidents considered major enough to warrant the use of IU Notify — the stabbing at Tulip Tree, the Polar Vortex and the robbery at the IU Credit Union.

Some of us on the Editorial Board don’t see IU Notify as operating at its optimal performance.

Notifications about a stabbing in Tulip Tree are wanted and needed, but are ultimately useless if you receive them up to an hour after the incident has been solved.

The administration has articulated that IU Notify isn’t as prepared to handle a large-scale emergency as it should be.

During the bank robbery at the IU Credit Union earlier this month, the system crashed, failing to alert thousands of students and faculty about the situation.

Since the Tulip Tree stabbing in October, the administration has admitted the system has been flawed. They  hired programmers to fix the problem in December, two months after the problem was discovered.

A staggering four months after the problem was discovered, it still isn’t fixed and won’t be for another three months.

IU Notify must be fixed, constantly monitored and updated as soon as possible. The consequences of a severe incident happening at the hands of a person like Ryder Pickens — the IU student recently arrested for allegedly attempting to create a bomb — and the system failing at the same time could be catastrophic.

The last thing we need during the confusion and chaos of a campus emergency is to have students receiving alerts and warnings late or not receiving notifications at all.

Students and faculty want to feel safe here on campus.

And the University owes it to us to make that happen.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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