Tuesday, October 27th marked a day in which our beloved school was shocked and stunned, when President Sara Jayne Steen announced on our school website that a so-called “Gunman” was scene walking around our campus.
Students were bombarded with alert text messages, and our emails were littered with press releases about the situation on and off campus. Police from all over the area came to the alert, and tried to handle the situation as best as they could. We had newspapers from all over the area coming as fast as they could to break the story. The Clock was able to break the news online due to our proximity to campus.
The whole campus was on lockdown for most of the night. Although PSU would deny the fact that the campus was on lockdown, everyone knows if they were at any of the campus buildings during this time, they were told to stay in and not exit any of the buildings. To us, that was as close as a lockdown as your going to get.
What did we all learn from this situation? We know that PSU can handle a situation like this at any moment. The campus was fast to send text message alerts around to all the students, and make sure they knew what was coming next. The campus even had plenty of press releases from the police, President Steen and several Public Relation spokespeople during crisis. All and all, campus, state and town authorities did an exceptional job alerting everyone until the situation was dissolved in the early morning hours.
As we have all found out last week, the so-called “gunman” wasn’t even holding a gun in the first place. It turned out, that the police secured him and found a ninja-like weapon in his possession. Although he did not hold a weapon, the students who called in the threat was right to do what they did. We at The Clock were thrilled and relieved that nothing drastic had happened that night, and we thank the student who called in the scare. Even though there was nothing to worry about, it was possible that this could have been real.
As we try and put together all the facts, the one problem we had with the situation was the sirens near Hyde Hall. Where were the sirens during this emergency? Aren’t we supposed to hear the siren when a crisis on campus erupts? What is the reason for the siren tests, if PSU is not going to alert everyone on campus? Yes, the alerts were great during the crisis, but we believe that the sirens are there for a reason. It doesn’t hurt to sound the alarm on top of the several text messages and emails. Not everyone has text messages sent to their phones, and not everyone was on their email at the time. The situation was on campus, and that means the several homes around the school has to be aware also. The sirens would be a crucial step in the right direction if a situation were to occur again.
We all took a deep breath when everyone was safe around campus, and the police captured the suspect. Most of us were satisfied on how the campus reacted to the situation, and we all took notice on the fast reaction by the police. A special thank you goes out to all the PSU staff, police officers, President Steen, Public Relations, the community, and the students who reported the suspect on campus.