2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 10/3/07Section: Editorials and Opinion
To the Editor:
Yesterday could have been a very tragic experience for St. John's. Luckily, the NYPD and our Public Safety officers did a great job controlling the situation. I was not as happy with the way the University responded. The new text alert system is a great idea, but many students had not yet signed up for it, or were not aware there was a new system in place before yesterday's events. I was one of the many students held in St. John's Hall for almost 4 hours. Unfortunately, not one student in my class had signed up for the text alert. We were forced to hear second hand information from our professor who was hearing it from another professor who heard it from even another. We also were moved from room to room by our professor and another. Eventually we were moved from the fourth floor to the third because they felt too far away from the rest of the building. No one was sure what was going on. What I am most upset with is though I had not yet signed up for the new text alert system, I did have the St. John's emergency alert number saved in my phone. I called it as soon as our professor told us anything and the recording said, "There are no emergencies to report at this time," our only indication of an emergency was the ever hovering helicopter above campus. I called the emergency number several times before the NYPD entered the building around 6:05 p.m. and we were finally released from St. John's Hall around 6:30 p.m. The recording did not change until about 5:00 p.m.; 2 1/2 hours after the suspect had been found on campus. Students in my class also tried to log on to St. John's Central but were unable to because of the high amount of people trying to access the site. There was no information on the log in screen until around 5:00 p.m. as well. I am extremely disappointed that St. John's was unable to use the emergency alert systems that have been in place for years. The new system is a great program, but considering how new it was, the existing systems should have been appropriately updated. The students in my class and my professor were forced to find out information from local news websites, which were not consistent and put us in greater fear then we needed to be. I thank the NYPD, Public Safety and Christopher Benson for all they did for our school. However, I wish the University had done a better job of notifying all of its students and faculty. The worse part of being lockdown for almost 4 hours was not being informed exactly as to why.
Yesterday could have been a very tragic experience for St. John's. Luckily, the NYPD and our Public Safety officers did a great job controlling the situation. I was not as happy with the way the University responded. The new text alert system is a great idea, but many students had not yet signed up for it, or were not aware there was a new system in place before yesterday's events. I was one of the many students held in St. John's Hall for almost 4 hours. Unfortunately, not one student in my class had signed up for the text alert. We were forced to hear second hand information from our professor who was hearing it from another professor who heard it from even another. We also were moved from room to room by our professor and another. Eventually we were moved from the fourth floor to the third because they felt too far away from the rest of the building. No one was sure what was going on. What I am most upset with is though I had not yet signed up for the new text alert system, I did have the St. John's emergency alert number saved in my phone. I called it as soon as our professor told us anything and the recording said, "There are no emergencies to report at this time," our only indication of an emergency was the ever hovering helicopter above campus. I called the emergency number several times before the NYPD entered the building around 6:05 p.m. and we were finally released from St. John's Hall around 6:30 p.m. The recording did not change until about 5:00 p.m.; 2 1/2 hours after the suspect had been found on campus. Students in my class also tried to log on to St. John's Central but were unable to because of the high amount of people trying to access the site. There was no information on the log in screen until around 5:00 p.m. as well. I am extremely disappointed that St. John's was unable to use the emergency alert systems that have been in place for years. The new system is a great program, but considering how new it was, the existing systems should have been appropriately updated. The students in my class and my professor were forced to find out information from local news websites, which were not consistent and put us in greater fear then we needed to be. I thank the NYPD, Public Safety and Christopher Benson for all they did for our school. However, I wish the University had done a better job of notifying all of its students and faculty. The worse part of being lockdown for almost 4 hours was not being informed exactly as to why.
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