UNC Department of Public Safety adds assault to Alert Carolina notification policy

For months, students have questioned the consistency of the University’s emergency notification policies, especially after learning of a Feb. 9 reported rape on Franklin Street from media organizations two days before the University’s response.

In a campus-wide email Friday, the Department of Public Safety provided concrete examples of changes to the policy on what it can report in informational emails.

The examples included reported sexual or physical assault cases on or off campus in which the victim did not know the assailant.

The changes came in response to multiple events, said Chief of Campus Police Jeff McCracken, who added that the system is reviewed after each major incident.

“We always listen to the concerns of the campus community, and it was obvious that even though we did not feel there was an ongoing threat, they wanted to be notified,” McCracken said.

“We have worked that into the protocol now, and it just wasn’t there before,” he said.

Bob Pleasants, interpersonal violence prevention coordinator for Campus Health Services, said he supports the changes.

He said it’s difficult to implement the right emergency notification system because officials need to consider the different nuances of assault cases.

“In general, one of the things that the department and all of us have to struggle with on campus is balancing the need to alert everybody of a situation while protecting the privacy of victims and survivors,” Pleasants said.

McCracken said the most recent change has received positive feedback from students.

“I live off campus, so I really appreciate getting notifications about things that happen off campus because it could potentially be in my area,” senior Monica Evans said.

Senior Katey Mote said it’s important to alert people of incidents, whether or not it’s an immediate threat.

“It’s nice to hear things from the school before seeing it on the news, knowing that it happened before you read a news article about it the next day and that (the University) took action,” she said.

McCracken said deciding whether a crime is an immediate threat, needs a timely warning or is simply of significant interest to the community is always a challenge.

These designations determine the type and timeliness of a campus-wide notification.

“In almost every one of these incidents, there’s going to be some subjectivity, and there will have to be judgment calls as to whether or not there’s an ongoing threat to the campus,” he said.

The University also changed its policy on when to sound the campus sirens in the event of a tornado, opting to only observe tornado warnings relevant to Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

McCracken said the notification policies will continue to be revised as significant events occur.

“If there are things in the communication that need to be revised at that time, then we’ll do that,” he said.

“It will always be a dynamic process.”

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