The embedded link in the OP didn't work when I tried it, I think it'll work now. That said, here's the story from the link. The
bolding in the story text is mine-
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333069,00.html
Mock Gunman Drill Terrifies Students, Faculty at North Carolina University
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Elizabeth City State University is offering counseling to faculty and students after some became unknowing participants in an emergency response drill.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported in Wednesday's editions that an armed man burst into a classroom Friday, threatening to kill students. The drill came eight days after a gunman killed five people and himself in a classroom at Northern Illinois University.
Anthony Brown, vice chancellor of student affairs, said ECSU was testing its response to such shootings. E-mail and text messages were sent five days before the drill, notifying students, staff and faculty, he said.
"The intent was not to frighten them but to test our system and also to test the response of the security that was on campus and the people that were notified," Brown said.
But not everyone got the word, including assistant professor Jingbin Wang, whose American foreign policy class was held hostage.
"I was prepared to die at that moment," Wang said Tuesday of the moment the gunman entered the room.
At 1:31 p.m. Friday, e-mail and text messages were sent, saying: "This is a test. ECSU is holding a test drill where an armed intruder will enter a room in Moore Hall and be detained by campus police."
The campus police officer who played the role of the intruder carried a red plastic model gun, the school said in a news release.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Wang said the man came to the door and said he wanted to talk. "Suddenly the man pointed the gun at me," he said, adding that he didn't have time to consider whether the gun was real.
The seven students were lined up against the wall, and the intruder threatened to kill the one with the lowest grade point average. Wang said the man told them that he had been kicked out of school and that he needed a lung transplant.
After about 10 minutes, campus police ended the drill by subduing the man.
In April, 32 students at Virginia Tech were killed by student gunman Seung-Hui Cho. That shooting has led schools to examine their emergency plans and conduct safety drills.
For example, UNC-Greensboro held an active shooter exercise in January that was attended by law enforcement and university officials from around the state. But students were not on campus when the drill was held during winter break.
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The original newspaper story I saw regarding this incident pointed out several items of interest. First, there were NO DETAILS given in the early announcements about exactly what was going to happen. Second, though the messages were sent out by text messaging, a significant percentage of the student body does not subsribe to the service and therefore did not receive the messages. The administration aparently wanted to test the ability of the student body to spread messages by 'word of mouth.'
If I can find the original story I'll post it. I can assure you all that the incident has received serious review on other campuses within the UNC system as an example of what NOT to do.
lpl/nc
ETA- See the related thread on THR at
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=343335
Here's the original story I saw on the event. Again, bolding in the text is mine. You get to decide whether later stories are more accurate reporting or just spin to make the campus administration look better.
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http://www.wtkr.com/global/story.asp?s=7923804
Local College Causes Stir With Gunman Drill
Posted: Feb 25, 2008 07:26 PM
Some Elizabeth State University students are upset after being almost scared to death by a recent safety drill on campus.
On Friday, an undercover campus officer barged into a history class in the Moore building and held the class hostage. According to students, he even held a gun to the professor's head! It was all part of an emergency alert system drill that the school was planning for months. Problem is...not everyone knew it was a drill.
Four days earlier, the school did begin sending out emails to students saying there would be some sort of emergency drill on Friday.
It did not specify where or exactly what time the drill would occur. It also did not mention the nature of the drill.
Then, on Friday, a few minutes before it all went down, the school sent out an alert saying there would be an armed intruder in Moore building who would be detained by campus police. Again, it did not specify which classroom.
However, only about half the campus has voluntarily signed up for the instant text alerts to their phones, so most people in that particular classroom, including the professor in that class, had no idea it was a drill.
By phone on Monday morning, Professor Jingbin Wang said he was shocked and did not know it was a drill. "Everyone was scared," he said. He said some students were prepared to jump out the window. Another colleague told him that her students were using tables and chairs to block the door of their classroom. "Her heart was racing," he said about his fellow teacher.
"I cannot believe a university would subject their own students to such a horrific event," one family member of a student in that classroom wrote us. " They were terrified! It is extremely poor judgement on the part of the administration at ECSU."
Effective training for students in the wake of the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings? Or a safety drill taken one step too far?
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Anthony Brown took our questions Monday afternoon.
"If there are people who have concerns and they were surprised, it was not our intention to surprise or shock anybody and if that occurs we are there for them," said Brown. "I really offer our sincere apology, because that was not the intent of this."
Then we asked him point blank, "Don't you think a normal person would be shocked if the person coming at their professor with a gun was a campus officer?
"Well, we did send out emails five days in advance and continued it through with alerts," said Brown.
We then pointed out that those initial alerts did not mention a gunman!
"No," he said. "That alert occurred on the day, on the day of the event."
So then we pressed further, that isn't it true that the school was absolutely aware that not all students would get that alert because not all students are signed up for the alert.
"That's absolutely true," he said. "That's where we have to test out the system and our communication among each other. Because if your neighbor knows something and you don't that tests something, that tests the communication. We should look out for each other, so that's something we learned. Paper and text and emails are one thing, but word of mouth is perhaps most important."
Again, word of mouth obviously did not spread around in time for the students in this classroom to get the warning this was a drill.
One student we talked to requested a private meeting with administration regarding her terrifying experience during the drill.
For now, the school is standing by the drill, saying that the administration, campus police and students learned from the experience. More drills are planned.
If you would like to sign up for the school's alerts to come instantly to your cell or your email, head to
http://www.ecsc.edu and look for the sparkly icon at the very top of the homepage called PIER Emergency Communications System.
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Meef was does Arrrgghh mean?
I know hunting season is mostly over, and I'm bored too. I do like this site, and I get some information and really enjoy the reading and comments.
