After the Virginia Tech massacre, universities scrambled to reassure students and parents they would come up with emergency plans that would learn from Virginia Tech’s mistakes. Northwestern’s plan, we learned for certain this week, would text (or call) students, faculty and staff members on their cell phones and install outdoor warning alarms.
Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations, says this will cost the school an indeterminate amount in the hundreds of thousands – money well-spent if it truly improved safety. But the plan seems so poorly thought through that I’m worried the school is only concerned with appearances.
Texting students sounds great. It’s worked for other schools, like St. John’s University, where a few weeks ago students were alerted within seven minutes of a masked gunman on campus. But according to Mr. Cubbage, our system could take up to an hour, enough time for a lot of bad things to happen.
Plus, we all know we get terrible reception at NU. Texting or calling is difficult to impossible in Tech, our largest building. And in Norris. And in Kresge. And in McCormick Tribune. On Wednesday, as I called Mr. Cubbage from a fraternity house on campus, I lost reception mid-question. When I called him back, he asked if it was because I was in Norris.
What’s more, we’re supposed to have our phones turned off in class or in the library. Mr. Cubbage joked this wasn’t a problem because students tend to check e-mail on laptops instead of paying attention in class. Surely we can’t rely on bored students to tell us about an emergency.
In Virginia, the students indoors were most at risk. If the ones in the school’s Norris Hall had known what was happening, they could have blockaded classroom doors, saving lives. So it’s odd that NU doesn’t have a coherent plan for notifying students in school buildings.
The other problem is the outdoor alarm system is vague. Mr. Cubbage says he isn’t clear on whether different emergencies (like tornadoes, gas leaks or masked gunmen) would be signaled by different tones. And if they were, would students remember what they mean? Virginia Tech had such alarms before the tragedy. On the day of the massacre, many students walked near the location of the shootings despite alarms. One assumed they warned of falling branches. It was terribly windy on April 16.
So what could have saved lives at Virginia Tech? Transparency. If the university had been prompt and honest about a gunman on campus, it is likely fewer people would have died. The lesson to learn is not that we need a text messaging system or outdoor alarms. It’s that universities need to be forthright with their students and put safety before PR. Given NU’s continued pattern of disingenuousness with students, from the mystery of Delt to the details of the rape just blocks from campus last year, it’s a lesson I’m not convinced that NU has grasped.
