I t has been four days since the incident, and it’s safe to say, nearly every member of the UNC community has heard one version or another of the fiasco in Lewis Residence Hall on Friday. Dozens of variations of the story have circulated, with only a few residents of Lewis serving as eyewitnesses to the whole campus.
In light of this incident and others, such as the peeping case from last semester, the UNC Department of Housing and Residential Education should implement a standardized system to quickly contact the residents of specific resident hall communities that would be immediately affected by an emergency situation.
Recall last Friday night. The automated text and email from Alert Carolina did not go out to students until several hours after the incident had occurred . This did not do the residents who were in the immediate vicinity of the incident any good. Instead, resident advisers or campus officials who are in the area of the incident should have a system to alert students under their jurisdiction quickly.
Because they are sent out some time after the fact, Alert Carolina automated notifications are oftentimes vague and give little advice to students in terms of what action, if any, should be taken. Under a quicker response system, the messages sent by RA’s or campus officials should provide information about the severity and nature of the incident and where students should go — whether it be stay in their locked rooms or evacuate the area.
This new system would carry less stringent requirements for issuing alerts than Alert Carolina, but would be more timely. Alert Carolina messages must go through multiple levels of approval, from the person reporting the incident to the Department of Public Safety, before a text message and email may be sent to students .
It would be much more timely to inform RAs or campus officials in the vicinity of the incident before the message is given the go-ahead from DPS. These people can then immediately relay the information to at-risk students.
This system would be applicable at times that differ in nature from the most recent situation with an armed man on campus. That day, Alert Carolina messages were promptly sent out with an accompanying siren due to the high emergency level given to the situation . Because not all situations pose such a threat to the entire campus, it’s appropriate to have varied levels of notifications to the campus.
Several RAs have informally implemented such systems already through text message listservs and alert their residents to events and news within their residence hall . The housing department should standardize this practice for all RAs.
What happened Friday night and the consequences a student will have to face for the rest of his life are unfortunate. However, this incident should teach a valuable lesson toward a way in which community advisers and officials of the Residence Hall Administration can improve the existing system. Although the event is regrettable, a silver lining may be found if the student body can learn from this student’s mistakes.
