A small protest was held outside Lumbee Hall at noon today to voice concerns over what some students are calling a “delayed notification of an active shooter situation.”
Students strolling about campus and attending events were unaware that at 4:43 p.m. a shooting had taken place at the University Courtyard Apartments. Meanwhile, SGA began their meeting at 5:15 p.m. and fans began pouring in for the 5:30 basketball tip-off. An emergency safety alert from campus police was sent to email, which student’s rarely use, at 5:21 of an “active shooter.” It wasn’t until 5:37 p.m. that students received this message in their Brave Alert :
Students looked at a blank “Brave Alert” unaware of what was occurring at the moment. The basketball game was put on a 27-minute delay and SGA sheltered in place. It wasn’t until 5:57 that a second Brave Alert was sent:
When SGA members went back inside, they discussed incentives that should take place to avoid this type of incident from occurring again.
In reaction to the delayed notification, students originally planned to protest for quicker notifications from the UNCP Administration and Campus Safety teams.
“I think that whoever wrote the brave alert needs to get some kind of template together because I received a message that disclosed wrong information, so I assumed that there was a wild shooter running around campus. There were no specifications where the shooter was. I was scared and they need to get their communications in order,” said Aniyah S.Lewis, a Senior Mass Communication major.
The protest was attended by an estimated five people, three participants were from SGA. Due to a lack of participation, the protest turned into a discussion for the delayed and blank notifications.
Students said they would like to have more security measures implemented like using their Brave’s Card to get into their buildings or to create gated apartment communities.
The SGA is expressing the concerns to UNCP Administrators that students want clearer updates when dealing with issues like this “active shooter” incident. They are concerned with the safety of students and are advocating for the school to do better with protecting their students.
The university is “taking necessary precautions to ensure that the delayed and blank notifications won’t happen again.” According to Chancellor Cummings.
The following student journalists contributed to this article: Harrison Ferger, Raven Hanning, Kia Wynne and Jalayna Pough.