You did not need a text message.
Following Friday's bomb scare/threat, student outcry has again rallied for the use of Ball State University's emergency text alert system. Akin to the Fall Semester off-campus shooting, concerned students say they deserved a text message updating them about the situation.
Admittedly, "Run like hell" is well within the 160-character limit for standard Short Message Service messages. (A "Boom Goes ... " reference here is grossly inappropriate.) Beyond that, there's little authorities could have said other than, "Avoid LaFollette Complex area." That, however, only creates a greater interest and generates more fear because our collective curious (or intoxicated) minds would wander up to the scene to see exactly what was happening. This is a nightmare for authorities already trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack - if it even exists in the first place.
A text message alert was decisively not needed. At the same time, the university failed students in not officially releasing more information about the incident until hours after the event.
The text messaging system is an alert system designed for extreme circumstances such as canceled classes or life-threatening situations. A bomb threat is an extreme situation, no doubt. From all indications and information that's been released, the large majority of campus was not in danger. The people who desperately needed to know were moved to Worthen Arena. Authorities, via a Saturday afternoon e-mail, said they assessed the threat and determined no strong reason to move students out of LaFollette Complex. Take that for it's worth, but I must trust their judgment of explosive materials over my limited used of firecrackers and bottle rockets.
As of writing, a non-scientific DN|Online poll said 46 percent of voters wanted more information about the threat Friday. Ponder: You're not getting more information because the authorities don't have any more information. They're as clueless as you. If you know where the bomb is hiding, you either a) put it there or b) need to drop out of school and market yourself as an explosive-sniffing human. If the authorities know where it is, they're trying to take care of it before it eliminates your ability to notice it in a more unfortunate manner.
Desires for an e-mail dispatch earlier in the morning are understandable. A Daily News e-mail was postmarked just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday, according to my e-mail account. The first Emergency Broadcast message from the university reached my inbox nearly two hours later. The next university message was not sent until 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. That in mind, the University Community deserves an explanation as to why it took more than 12 hours for a full report of the situation to be officially delivered to the entire community.
Still, we didn't need a text message.
To keep its subscriber base strong, the university has no choice but to frugally send messages. More frequent messaging would result in ignored messages, or ultimately a fall-out of users. Most faculty and off-campus students had no need to know what was going on at that hour. That need would have drastically differed if it was in the middle of a business/academic day,
This brings us to the underappreciated power of human networking.
The average time it takes for the university to send a mass text alert is 12.5 minutes, according to a test conducted a week prior to Friday's scare. It's quite plausible that if a real "OMG We're going to die" emergency were to strike the campus, you'd receive five personal text messages, 20 tweets and seven Facebook status updates before you'd get the university text message.
The text alert system is a safeguard, not a failsafe. If a shooter is on the loose through campus, let's hope we conquer him before those 12.5 minutes are up. If a tornado is going to strike campus, don't expect your cell phone to tell you to take cover. Look out the window, use your senses and take care of yourself.
Look, the instructions here are simple. In the event of a real emergency: 1) Remove head from ass, 2) Observe the situation and 3) Use your best judgment and survival skills like the rest of the fear-sensitized world. Don't expect anyone else to do it for you.
An earlier follow up to the situation is what we needed, not a 2 a.m. scare-text. In any emergency situation few alerts will solely keep you out of harm's way, let alone one of 160 characters. Ultimately there are just 14 characters that will keep you as safe as anything.
Use your head.
Write to Dave at heydave@bewilderedsociety.com
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