2008 Woodie Awards
Bomb threat demonstrates MTSU readiness
Editorial Board
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Opinions
There was a bomb threat on campus midday Friday. Murfreesboro Police Department said that someone called in from a Kangaroo convenience store in town and reported that there was a bomb in the Business and Aerospace Building.
Within an hour, an alert was sent via text message to students and faculty, some of whom were in the BAS.
This is an example of the text-message alert system working, a system of which Sidelines was very skeptical when it was implemented last year. Students interviewed on Friday were glad to receive the message, as it helped to keep them up to date and know which building to evacuate.
Indeed, the messages are "an important component" to campus safety in general, according to Buddy Peaster, chief of Campus Police.
However, one student was concerned and thought the message should have been more specific. He said that he was in the BAS when he received the alert, but his girlfriend was in class on the other side of the building. He would have liked to know where the bomb "was," and from which side it would be safest to evacuate.
Regardless, who would really call in a bomb threat on a Friday? Many students don't have classes on Friday, and even more are gone by noon. Do people that are actually determined to blow things up even offer specific warnings beforehand, outside of Bruce Willis movies?
Amazingly, there were rumors that the bomb threat was contrived by a student who didn't want to take an exam, but still hoped to be excused.
Would a student really be desperate enough to avoid an exam that he or she would call in a bomb threat? Isn't it a criminal offense to do that in the age after Sept. 11? Such charges probably mar one's transcript much more seriously than a failed midterm.
If the person responsible was a student, at the very least the individual should be expelled immediately. If it was anyone else, they'd do well to quit distracting students and get a life.
Still, it seems that many tragedies happen this time of year; both the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres occurred in April. Mentally ill people who have withdrawn during winter may emerge violently during the subsequent thaw, Peaster said.
Regrettably, schools are no longer as safe as one would prefer, and with its open campus and massive student body, there's only so much authorities here can do to secure our surroundings. We'd be fools to believe this will be the last time MTSU will be threatened with violence.
Still, here's hoping.
Within an hour, an alert was sent via text message to students and faculty, some of whom were in the BAS.
This is an example of the text-message alert system working, a system of which Sidelines was very skeptical when it was implemented last year. Students interviewed on Friday were glad to receive the message, as it helped to keep them up to date and know which building to evacuate.
Indeed, the messages are "an important component" to campus safety in general, according to Buddy Peaster, chief of Campus Police.
However, one student was concerned and thought the message should have been more specific. He said that he was in the BAS when he received the alert, but his girlfriend was in class on the other side of the building. He would have liked to know where the bomb "was," and from which side it would be safest to evacuate.
Regardless, who would really call in a bomb threat on a Friday? Many students don't have classes on Friday, and even more are gone by noon. Do people that are actually determined to blow things up even offer specific warnings beforehand, outside of Bruce Willis movies?
Amazingly, there were rumors that the bomb threat was contrived by a student who didn't want to take an exam, but still hoped to be excused.
Would a student really be desperate enough to avoid an exam that he or she would call in a bomb threat? Isn't it a criminal offense to do that in the age after Sept. 11? Such charges probably mar one's transcript much more seriously than a failed midterm.
If the person responsible was a student, at the very least the individual should be expelled immediately. If it was anyone else, they'd do well to quit distracting students and get a life.
Still, it seems that many tragedies happen this time of year; both the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres occurred in April. Mentally ill people who have withdrawn during winter may emerge violently during the subsequent thaw, Peaster said.
Regrettably, schools are no longer as safe as one would prefer, and with its open campus and massive student body, there's only so much authorities here can do to secure our surroundings. We'd be fools to believe this will be the last time MTSU will be threatened with violence.
Still, here's hoping.
Be the first to comment on this story