EDITORIAL: UT's success in alerting campus of danger is a model for all others to consider
The motivation behind 19-year-old Colton Tooley’s brief but frightening rampage on the University of Texas campus Tuesday may never be known, but the first thought in our minds was: Could this happen at one of our campuses here in Waco? Are school officials, for all their talk, truly prepared?
Because Tooley’s rampage ended quickly with no casualties but himself, the story received little attention on the national news. But the fact that it occurred on a campus that witnessed such horrors more than four decades ago — and with great loss of life — should remind all of the dangers one finds, even where the best and brightest minds congregate to broaden their thinking and knowledge and deepen their humanity.
The Austin American-Statesman says students and faculty were warned that an “armed subject” was running amok on campus even before sirens sounded. Through everything from text messages to Facebook to Twitter to e-mail, more than 53,000 were alerted, allowing them to flee or take cover until the crisis was over. UT’s system of alerting its campus to the danger worked, and worked well.
Our survey of local campuses reveals Baylor University, McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College Waco have systems in place to contact students and faculty in a crisis via everything from texting to loudspeakers. Only a week ago, Baylor promptly dispatched an alert after an armed robbery near campus at the Speight Jenkins Apartments — proof that while we sadly live in a dangerous and unpredictable age, technology and smart management can greatly cut down the risk to the innocent.
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