Back when I was in college (a phrase that makes me sound old!), the only campus-wide alerts we ever listened for concerned the weather. Would class be canceled because of that half-inch of snow? But my, how the world has changed. In the aftermath of the shooting at Virginia Tech, schools all over are implementing text-message alert systems. They are really publicizing it here at Shepherd, and you can read about it here. I just noticed that they are instituting a similar plan at Roanoke, which you can read about here.
This topic brings up so many interesting sub-topics. Notice the language used to talk about these programs, especially in the Shepherd announcement. Talk about dancing around the real impetus behind the program. (I can't say I blame them, though). Roanoke's is a bit more straightforward, even going as far as to discuss an "Active Shooter Protocol."
Beyond the rhetoric of it all, though, it's strange (and sad) to think that such programs are necessary. Of course, I can remember when Columbine happened. I was a senior in college and my house-mates and I sat around the table talking about how we couldn't have imagined something like that happening in our high schools. (And it was even that long ago that we had been in high school). It's amazing how quickly "normal" changes after something horrific happens. I also remember us talking about how sooner or later, we would have the same worries at colleges and universities. I wish we had been wrong about that.
1 comment:
VCU is doing the same thing. Scary. ...Mike and I don't have a subscription for texting. I guess maybe one of these days will might have to break down and join the masses-especially if that is how they plan on doing most of their alerts.
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