Letter: Alert system doesn’t ease concerns

Dear Editor,

After the tragic events at Virginia Tech, many universities across the country have adopted an immediate alert system to notify students of immediate threats on campus. Temple is one of those schools, or so they say.

One service that Temple provides is an alert system, TU-Alert, that can either send you a text message, call you or send an e-mail providing details about current threats on campus.

The only time I have ever seen this in action was when they test the system.

Within the past few months, there were two shootings outside of White Hall, an armed robbery at the nearby Rite Aid and, more recently, a mentally ill person walked past security personnel at the Edge and attempted to force himself inside a Temple student’s apartment. In none of those incidents was there an alert sent to Temple students.

This is a growing concern for many students who live on or near campus. Temple holds students accountable for their actions in areas up to 500 yards of any Temple-affiliated building, residence or service. But, when a shooting or robbery or any other crime happens within that 500 yards, Temple ignores the problem.

I was very shocked, among every other resident of White Hall, to hear that there were people shot right outside of our residence hall. Two of my friends saw the shooting, and it was well within the designated 500 yards. Temple did not question my friends. They didn’t alert the residence hall that was next to the shooting. No e-mail was sent the following day to explain what had happened.

Many students share this concern and have addressed Temple’s administration without any luck. It frightens many students because our safety is in the hands of this university. We deserve the right to know if any part of campus or the surrounding area is unsafe. Even the resident assistants share concern for the safety of their residents in the residence halls near Cecil B. Moore Avenue and Susquehanna Avenue. This is Temple’s responsibility to keep us safe, and so far, this university has a failing grade in being able to alert students of the dangers around them.

Nathan Kadish
Freshman, BTMM

No TU-Alert a louder message after shooting

Temple tested TU-Alert, its emergency alert system, on Friday, May 9. Students who have registered with the system received a text message, phone call and e-mail explaining that the message was only a test.

On Tuesday, May 13, shots were fired at 15th and Norris streets. No one got a TU-Alert message.

The shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. A 19-year-old non-Temple female was shot in the chest, and the security kiosk on the corner has bullet holes in it. Marshall Thomas, the 19-year-old suspect, is still on the loose, as the Temple News reported [“Shots fired at 15th and Norris,” Chris Stover and LeAnne Matlach, May 13, 2008].

William Bergman, Temple’s vice president of operations, sent an e-mail to students on May 14 informing them that the incident was believed to be the result of a domestic disagreement and was not a random crime.

Bergman went on to say that neither the victim nor the suspect is believed to have a connection to Temple, and that students did not receive an alert message because the “incident had been contained.”

This was an error in judgment on Temple’s part. The intersection of 15th and Norris is a busy spot: the turf field and Liacouras Center are right there, and many students live nearby. Though the people involved in the shooting are not affiliated with Temple, the crime took place near Temple property and endangered the life of an AlliedBarton security guard who was sitting in a security kiosk marked with a Temple “T” at the time of the shooting.

Police officers declared the incident contained, yet the suspect is still roaming the streets nearly a week later. Although authorities determined that Temple students were not at risk because the shooting was not random, police have labeled Thomas as being armed and dangerous.

An alert message should have been sent out anyway to inform students of the incident. Waiting until the next day to send an e-mail was passive-aggressive and compromises the legitimacy of the alert system.

To make matters worse, Temple may have unknowingly undone its ties with the surrounding community. For all its efforts to be recognized as a neighborhood-friendly university, Temple’s inaction on May 13 sends a conflicting message.

The shooting may not have occurred directly on Temple property, but it happened within campus boundaries, and therefore affects students and community members who live there. If Temple wants to keep up its reputation as community-involved university, then it needs to uphold those standards at all times.

A teenager was shot, but she doesn’t go to Temple, so there was no need for an alert. That’s the image Temple has presented, intended or not.

TU-Alert was set up to warn students about possible dangers on campus. The shooting at 15th and Norris took place near campus property and student residences. An emergency message should have been sent out, even if Temple students were not directly affected. There is no harm in being overly cautious.

The university needs to stop picking and choosing which alerts to send out, because the absence of an alert sends a louder message to students and community members.

Shannon McDonald can be reached at shannon.mcdonald@temple.edu.

Temple responds to shooting

Read the full report here.

Read the criminal history of suspect Marshall Thomas here.

Temple has released a statement about last night’s shooting at 15th and Norris streets.

The statement, sent through e-mail by Vice President of Operations William Bergman, addresses Temple’s decision not to use the TU-Alert system to notify students, faculty and staff about the incident.

“Because the police determined that the incident had been contained, the alert system was not implemented,” Bergman said.

The TU-Alert system, which sends text messages, voicemails and e-mails to those who registered, was just tested on Friday.

The statement acknowledges the shooting of a 19-year-old female outside of a security booth next to the turf field Tuesday night around 11:30 p.m. Police are searching for their suspect, Marshall Thomas, 19, who is considered armed and dangerous.

“[Philadelphia Police] believe the shooting was a result of a domestic disagreement, and neither the perpetrator nor the victim are believed to have any ties to Temple,” Bergman said.

The victim, who has not been named, is in critical condition at Temple Hospital. The guard in the booth, an AlliedBarton worker, was not harmed.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Marshall Thomas, contact the Philadelphia Police Department or dial 9-1-1.

Chris Stover can be reached at stover@temple.edu.