The ringing of 25,000 cell phones
How tragic and ironic that the most technologically connected generation in history had to find out through campus loud speakers, police bull horns and knocks on their dorm doors that a gunman was loose on the Virginia Tech campus.
Even when violence such as this can't be prevented, it can be minimized. Allowing a gunman time to move from one end of a 2,600-acre campus to the other while thousands of students flow from buildings without a hint of a shooting two hours earlier is a failure of communication, protocol and most of all imagination -- the terrible brand of imagination that leaders of any organization must employ in a world where "unthinkable" acts of violence play out with increasing frequency.
posted by Krista Ramsey at 4:16 PM
6 Comments:
at 4:54 PM, April 16, 2007 
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at 8:01 PM, April 16, 2007 
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at 6:41 AM, April 17, 2007 
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at 8:35 AM, April 17, 2007 
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at 8:00 PM, April 19, 2007 
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at 9:37 AM, April 20, 2007 
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Post a Comment*Krista, since as of 4:16 pm, you now have complete command and understanding of the Va Tech shooting facts, would you please update and notify the Va Tech Campus and State police of your expert findings.
You easily sensationalize the story before the facts are known, even as the families are being notified and start grieving. You are typical and as pathetic as the rest that masquerade as journalists, following the Woodward and Bernstein syndrome.
Easy to say, but we're all deluded about the "speed" of connection in this internet/cell phone world. As a simple exercise, just imagine if you tried to contact all the students at UC, starting right now. The word might finally get around to everyone by Friday.
I'll comment merely on this topic as I posted most of my other words in http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/artchat/comments.aspx?aID=704170318
How do you notify a campus that has 26,000 students on it's main campus? 2 hours taking long?
You have to first look at what the incident was. They thought it was a domestic and had thought that the student left the campus. When a shooting happens in Clifton do we lock down Avondale and send out emails to everyone in Indian Hill? No, because there's no reason to think anything else will come of it.
Then before sending out any notification one must have some facts as to not cause too much of a widespread panic. If they sent out an email that said "Shooting in such and such hall, no further info" then people would have paniced alot more. Heck, media would have flooded the scene maybe even adding themselves as victims. They needed to get some facts together to give out some basic info and they had no reason to believe a second shooting would happen (this assuming the two are related which is still unknown.) How many shootings in Cincinnati have happened in a weeklong period and been related, simply, two shootings, one week, same shooter not at the same time? I'm gonna say probably less than one handful in one hundred years of Cicninnati history.
Now how do you notify students? They sent out emails but I know being a former college student (it's been less than 5 years) that not everyone checks their email before class. Heck, at 9:30 I be half the students living on campus were still asleep. Then with only 1/3 of your population on campus you have to figure out how to notify those off campus. Letting radio stations know is a good method however very few college students listen to that in an age of XM/Sirius and MP3 players.
Cell phones is far from the answer. I'm not giving a college campus my cell phone number because with the way they hold records and security info, I don't want my number getting out. It's private and private for a reason. Not to mention not everyone has a cell and how do you give out info in a text message (which some are limited to 155 characters) and have students believe that it's true and not some friend playing a joke on them.
Unfortunately, this will always be second guessed. They sent emails, used TV/Radio stations, and broadcast on a campuswide PA system, yet it still didn't help. And if the shooter gets in a building before the lockdown, they just gave them easier access to the targets.
You refer to UC. There is no plan contrary to published statements. There is no way to alarm students of a crisis. The closest thing is the tornado sirens.
At the college of Applied Science, Victory Pkwy. the daytime security has been removed for budget savings. Any response comes from Clifton campus, a few miles away. We have known of this issue and have done nothing. What if CAS were VT? Nancy would have a lot more explaining to do.
2600 acres, 26,000 students, and you want the whole place notified in minutes. It's easy to play Monday-morning quarterback here, but that is utterly unrealistic.
Krista, have you volunteered to be on the safety committees of the local college campuses to lend your expertise of how to implement your “imagination”?
By the way, you also must protect your Liberal agenda of maintaining EVERY individual’s right to privacy and the security of all personal data collected from hackers and stalkers. Don’t worry about paying for the cost of your security and information systems measures. If only one child’s life is saved, its worth any price.
Please inform us when you report is ready to publish.
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