By Victoria Landers
Two recent incidents on Texas Tech’s campus that required emergency response have left local journalists, students and faculty wondering: Why were they not notified by the university’s alert system?
The first incident occurred on Friday, March 4, when the Texas Tech Police Department responded to a report of a possible bomb threat in the College of Media & Communication. After interviewing several people, the officers concluded the threat was not credible, said Capt. Stephen Hinkle. For safety precautions, the officers did a walk-through and cleared the building.
Students and faculty were allowed back within 30 minutes. However, people in some parts of the CoMC building did not realize what was happening and never left the building.
Texas Tech police outside of the College of Media & Communication after the bomb threat on March 4. Nicolas Lopez/The Hub@TTU
The second incident happened six days later, when a minor explosion in the Chemistry building left a graduate student with small cuts and abrasions.
A particular step of an experiment was left out, causing the explosion, said Ronald Phillips, university counsel. It was quickly determined that there was not a prolonged threat.
Both incidents attracted emergency personnel and local news reporters, leaving the Texas Tech community to wonder what was happening and feeling a lack of communication.
Texas Tech police and the Lubbock Fire Department at the Chemistry building following the minor explosion on March 10. Amanda Castro-Crist/The Hub@TTU
Alyssa Chrisope, a senior journalism major, said she had a class roughly an hour after the bomb threat incident occurred.
“I would have liked an official email from the university or the college explaining what happened, to ensure it was safe to attend class,” Chrisope said. “I ended up not attending class because my professor sent an email saying we didn’t have to if we didn’t feel safe, and I didn’t because I didn’t know what actually happened until the next day. Even that was hearsay.”
Another journalism student, Kortni Robinson, was also frustrated by the lack of any official information from the university during the incidents. She said she learned about the bomb threat from a group text.
Students were not the only ones concerned about the lack of communication. Cristina Banda-Rodriguez, who works in the Registrar’s Office, said she would like to know what is happening, no matter how small the incident is.
“It’s very scary and upsetting when we aren’t notified for these kinds of situations,” she said. “False or not, we would like to know.”
This is not the first time Texas Tech has received such scrutiny after an emergency incident. According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the university was criticized after a 2008 bomb threat for not alerting students and faculty of the risk.
However, Phillips and Hinkle want students and faculty to understand that Tech Alert, the university’s emergency communication system, is not designed to be a news source.
“The purpose of the alert is to warn of an emergency situation,” Hinkle said. “We will only send it out if we think there’s a continued threat to the community.”
Tech Alert’s protocols have been developed based on incidents that have happened on other university campuses, such as the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech University shootings, Phillips said.
“Our main thought is, ‘What is the quickest way to get word out to the university community?’” Phillips said.
Tech PD will send an initial Tech Alert for situations such as a confirmed active shooter, a credible bomb threat or an offense for which a suspect is still at large, Hinkle said. After that, the communication department takes over. In some situations, police dispatchers are given the ability to issue alerts because they receive updates before anyone else.
Tech Alert is the university’s emergency communication system. Victoria Landers/The Hub@TTU
“We only send out that initial alert, and it’s going to be really generic,” Hinkle said. “That’s because we don’t really want to waste our time with the alert. We want to get the information out that we have to get out and then we want to deal with the situation and let the communications people pick it up and start giving the continuing information.”
Phillips also said certain buildings on campus will elicit more attention.
“If you and I went and pulled the fire alarm in the Administration Building, the fire department would certainly respond, but not like the response you saw with Chemistry,” Phillips said. “Chemistry, Biology, Experimental Sciences—those buildings just by the nature of what happens there and what’s in there, you’re going to see a much larger response from Lubbock Fire Department. It creates a lot of attention, but at the same time it’s definitely a safety precaution.”
Residence halls will also receive a large response if a fire alarm is pulled, because of their height and dense occupancy.
Each campus building has an emergency manager, who coordinates communication in cases of emergency, Phillips said. The lessons from the bomb threat incident have led to a revised communication plan if a similar incident occurs.
Added Phillips: “What we have learned is that you need to continue communication throughout the incident.”
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