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Questions of safety at UMD
BY ELIZABETH ENKE
contributions by Lisa Kunkel
STATESMAN STAFF WRITERS
iISSUE: 78/22
It is one thing to hear about campus tragedies, but to experience your safety being threatened first-hand at your own school is another. Six days after the Northern Illinois University (NIU) shooting, a suspicious man found his way into lecture hall Montague 70 during a macro-economics class. University police responded accordingly and a mass e-mail was sent out the entire UMD campus later that afternoon.
A sophomore girl, who was sitting two rows from where the man was upset with the way the situation was handled. “He came into the back and stood around. Then he sat in the back,” said the student who wished to remain anonymous due to safety concerns. “[He] tapped his whip on the desks, and I thought ‘what’s going on?’” When the student read the e-mail sent out by the university, her initial thought was “are you kidding me?”
“The e-mail said he wasn’t armed, but he had two weapons,” said the student. “I understand they didn’t want UMD to be alarmed, but he could’ve hurt any one of us. The Duluth [News Tribune] newspaper even said more than that.” The student said that university police mentioned to her class that they had been watching him for awhile, which made her more upset. “They should’ve stopped him right away,” she said. “How did they know he didn’t have more weapons? He obviously wasn’t a student. Everyone has a backpack or even a notebook with a pen or pencil.”
The macro-economics student felt that her opinion needed to be heard. “I just wanted to do something because I know I wasn’t the only one who felt this way,” she said. Third-year student Paul Strommer admits to feeling safe on campus, though believes that faculty training on certain situations would be a good thing. “I could see how there’s a need for more training or just more awareness for faculty in emergency situations,” he said. “But as a student, I’m not sure they need to do anything now. I feel very safe at this campus. I feel safe in every lecture hall.”
Vice Chancellor for Academic Support and Student Life Randy Hyman said that after the Virginia Tech Tragedy, UMD set up the emergency text messaging system as a safeguard for a threatening situations. A text message would be released to those signed up for the service in the under those circumstances; however, this was not the case in regards to the Montague incident. According to Hyman, a text message was not distributed due to legal issues and he believes police and the university acted sufficiently.
“The law enforcement arrived almost immediately once the call was made,” said Hyman. “University police and city police apprehended him before anything else could happen.” Hyman felt that the university was very responsive to the needs of students in the macro-economics class. “Two days later, Lt. Anne Peterson, plus one staff officer and Kathy Morris all came to class,” said Hyman. “[They] spent a better half of the class discussing resources available to students who needed to talk about it.”
Fifth-year student Renada Sweig thinks that our faculty should be aware of how to act in emergency situations like the incident in the Montague lecture hall. “This is my fifth year and I’ve always felt safe,” Sweig said. “But it would be good to have faculty trained with everything going on in our country lately.” Hyman said that the university’s faculty is encouraged to contact the administration or counseling center if they observe strange behavior.
“It’s not that they’re not trained for it,” noted Hyman. “As these incidents occur around the country, universities are being reinforced to help faculty members be prepared for these circumstances.” UMD is addressing these issues with incoming faculty during their orientation said Hyman. “More and more time is being set aside to acquaint them to be aware of dynamics, in the classroom, of behavior,” said Hyman.
The university’s administration has received some feedback from campus. “There were a small handful of e-mails from UMD students shortly after the [mass] e-mail,” said Hyman. Hyman read all the e-mails regarding the strange man on campus. He said that a couple students wished the mass e-mail was more detailed while others were very happy with the way the situation was handled.
