2008 Woodie Awards
Gun incident could have been handled better
Editorial Board
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Opinions
An anonymous and suspicious e-mail was sent to campus police Tuesday morning, stating that a gunman was going to shoot a professor in Peck Hall.
With a bomb threat occurring only a few days prior, the police seemed to have lost their sense of authority to devise a proper plan after receiving the e-mail. Instead of canceling all of the classes held in Peck Hall on Tuesday, the decision was left up the professors whether or not to resume their lectures. The end result was extremely inconsistent. The English department cancelled all classes, however, other courses, such as psychology, resumed after Peck Hall was cleared by campus police.
Thinking back to the Virginia Tech shooting, we can't help but wonder if MTSU is taking precautions to investigate and keep it's students safe. Of course, students received a text message warning them of the threat that was made, but in the e-mail sent to the staff it stated more information pertaining to the situation.
Throughout the confusion of deciding between a hoax or the truth, the administrators at MTSU began to take control of the situation by doing the job of campus police, who apparently could not choose a decisive route when evacuating the students out of the building.
Then again, during the bomb threat, Murfreesboro Police were contacted to inspect the claim made, but with the rumor of a gunman patrolling the halls of Peck Hall, campus police were called. This hardly seems to make sense considering both authorities should have been notified in a case involving a student and faculty member.
Of course, we understand why certain precautions were not taken during the incident due to a lack of information for both the authorities and public, but hope for clearer instructions and evacuation plans in the future.
Even though a threat serves a petty attempt to get attention, any claim made towards a university with over 23,000 students walking the grounds should be taken care of immediately; however, since classes have been cancelled due to these events, students might use bomb threats and gunman rumors as a way to get out of class.
With a bomb threat occurring only a few days prior, the police seemed to have lost their sense of authority to devise a proper plan after receiving the e-mail. Instead of canceling all of the classes held in Peck Hall on Tuesday, the decision was left up the professors whether or not to resume their lectures. The end result was extremely inconsistent. The English department cancelled all classes, however, other courses, such as psychology, resumed after Peck Hall was cleared by campus police.
Thinking back to the Virginia Tech shooting, we can't help but wonder if MTSU is taking precautions to investigate and keep it's students safe. Of course, students received a text message warning them of the threat that was made, but in the e-mail sent to the staff it stated more information pertaining to the situation.
Throughout the confusion of deciding between a hoax or the truth, the administrators at MTSU began to take control of the situation by doing the job of campus police, who apparently could not choose a decisive route when evacuating the students out of the building.
Then again, during the bomb threat, Murfreesboro Police were contacted to inspect the claim made, but with the rumor of a gunman patrolling the halls of Peck Hall, campus police were called. This hardly seems to make sense considering both authorities should have been notified in a case involving a student and faculty member.
Of course, we understand why certain precautions were not taken during the incident due to a lack of information for both the authorities and public, but hope for clearer instructions and evacuation plans in the future.
Even though a threat serves a petty attempt to get attention, any claim made towards a university with over 23,000 students walking the grounds should be taken care of immediately; however, since classes have been cancelled due to these events, students might use bomb threats and gunman rumors as a way to get out of class.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 5
Mike
posted 4/02/08 @ 11:56 PM CST
The second amendment: keeping American's citizens safe since 1791. It's a shame we aren't allowed to exercise that right on campus.
Amanda Smith
posted 4/03/08 @ 9:17 AM CST
While I agree this situation could have been handled better, it seems that the police were only attempting to follow procedure and pass on the information of a potential threat. (Continued…)
Cowboy Bob
posted 4/20/08 @ 12:50 PM CST
And the anti-gun freaks chime in with a bunch of paraniod rhetoric and condescending cliches.
Heres an idea: Let's create gun free "safe zones" for violent criminals. (Continued…)
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