2008 Woodie Awards
Campus violence necessitates alarm systems-are you in the loop?
Jessica Anderson
Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Editorial
Higher education is at a higher risk these days-and I don't just mean financially.
Since last month, four separate instances of violence have rocked U.S. campuses, leaving eleven people dead.
In February, a woman opened fired during class at Louisiana Technical College, killing two students before the assailant killed herself. Six days later, a former student at Northern Illinois University shot and killed five people in a lecture hall before turning the gun on himself.
18-year-old Lauren Burk's body was found on the side of an off-campus road last Tuesday. Twenty minutes later, her car was found ablaze in a campus parking lot.
The next day, student body president Eve Carson of the University of North Carolina was found less than a mile from campus, shot to death.
My intentions are not to depress you with the sad realities that the nightly news dishes out to us each evening. The reality is, that campuses are increasingly becoming havens for unthinkable crimes and mass killings.
This disturbs me, as it should you.
Luckily, SSU is not turning a blind eye to this disturbing pattern. In a recent interview with the Press Democrat, SSU Police Chief Nate Johnson described the e-mail, voicemail and public address systems that our university has in place, should a situation ever arise on campus.
SSU is currently looking into a system, according to Johnson, which would activate mass email, voicemail and text messages with a single phone call-though I can't imagine where the University will find the money to fund this program amidst a multi-million dollar state deficit.
But, would you get that text message that could save your life? Odds are, under your PeopleSoft account, the number you've provided SSU is not the same one that goes off in your pocket during lectures.
Safeguard yourself; log onto your CMS-HRSA account, find your personal info, click "phone numbers", and add your cell number to the list. You may not like the University knowing your sacred cell number, but it could make all the difference one day.
Since last month, four separate instances of violence have rocked U.S. campuses, leaving eleven people dead.
In February, a woman opened fired during class at Louisiana Technical College, killing two students before the assailant killed herself. Six days later, a former student at Northern Illinois University shot and killed five people in a lecture hall before turning the gun on himself.
18-year-old Lauren Burk's body was found on the side of an off-campus road last Tuesday. Twenty minutes later, her car was found ablaze in a campus parking lot.
The next day, student body president Eve Carson of the University of North Carolina was found less than a mile from campus, shot to death.
My intentions are not to depress you with the sad realities that the nightly news dishes out to us each evening. The reality is, that campuses are increasingly becoming havens for unthinkable crimes and mass killings.
This disturbs me, as it should you.
Luckily, SSU is not turning a blind eye to this disturbing pattern. In a recent interview with the Press Democrat, SSU Police Chief Nate Johnson described the e-mail, voicemail and public address systems that our university has in place, should a situation ever arise on campus.
SSU is currently looking into a system, according to Johnson, which would activate mass email, voicemail and text messages with a single phone call-though I can't imagine where the University will find the money to fund this program amidst a multi-million dollar state deficit.
But, would you get that text message that could save your life? Odds are, under your PeopleSoft account, the number you've provided SSU is not the same one that goes off in your pocket during lectures.
Safeguard yourself; log onto your CMS-HRSA account, find your personal info, click "phone numbers", and add your cell number to the list. You may not like the University knowing your sacred cell number, but it could make all the difference one day.