A Temple student was shot Sunday, Nov. 2 on Ninth and Norris streets around 1 a.m..
The student, a senior marketing major and a defender for the soccer team, told Temple Police officers that three men approached him, one of whom shot him when he informed them he had nothing for the taking. The victim was taken to Temple Hospital and treated for a gunshot wound to the buttocks.
Following the incident, men’s soccer coach David MacWilliams and Larry Dougherty, the associate director of Athletics, declined to comment on the shooting. The student identified himself to The Temple News but refused an interview without permission from his coaches for fear of losing his scholarship.
The shooting appears in this week’s crime report, but it is listed only as assault. Campus Safety Services did not send out a TU-Advisory.
It is appalling that the university officials who are responsible for the well-being of our safety and our athletes have chosen not to act.
Although the shooting is still being investigated, the lack of comment from the soccer coach and associate athletic director suggests there is something to be covered up. A soccer player is injured with playoffs coming up this weekend, and his coaches have nothing to say about it. Even a statement wishing him well would have been better than nothing.
To make matters worse, the incident appears as an assault in the crime report compiled by Campus Safety Services. This choice of words downplays the shooting, putting it on the same level as a fist fight. CSS also failed to issue a TU-Advisory, the e-mail alert which warns students about potential threats on campus.
By entering the crime as an assault and neglecting to send an e-mail, Campus Safety Services is creating the false sense of security it aims to dispel. Students who feel safe walking home after a late night out will continue to do so if they aren’t aware a fellow classmate has been shot.
The crime report and TU-Advisory exist to keep students informed and neither is being used properly. It’s as if Temple is trying to brush the shooting off. It is understandable that CSS doesn’t want the incident to get blown out of proportion, but not addressing the shooting at all is unacceptable.
Similar incidents cannot be prevented if those who are most at risk are kept in the dark.
This is becoming a pattern with Temple University. Institute an “emergency alert” system, test it frequently, but when do you intend to use it, other than to promote the school on the tours? Students get shot, and you absolutely refuse to send out an alert. You didn’t send one out for the shootings over the summer, or for the shooting that killed a police officer just off campus. YOU ARE PLAYING PUBLIC RELATIONS GAMES WITH OUR LIVES. Our lives depend on knowing that a shooter has escaped into the university area, armed and dangerous. But you won’t let us have this life-saving piece of information. I’d rather you risk a bit of bad publicity than my life.