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Monday, April 16, 2007 12:00 AM

University officials waited two hours to warn campus, students say

With at least 33 dead and 29 wounded, some ask why the campus wasn't shut down after an early-morning killing.

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  • Tuesday, April 17, 2007 03:36 PM

    a "feminist issue"? whatever

    The point about police not immediately alerting the campus -- because they thought this was a "domestic dispute" limited to the people involved or a murder suicide (and no, it wouldn't take long to realize there was no weapon) -- was that there was an armed MURDERER on the loose.

    That's information I would have wanted to have, personally.

    Their judgment about whether or not it was "domestic" or a "crime of passion" should not have prevented them from alerting students that two people had been shot dead on campus. Maybe some students might have decided to sit tight and not go to class. Most would have gone anyway but at least they would have known that they needed to be especially alert. Who knows? The point is that they should have been told, even if that is all the university could have done for them.

    A simple announcement to the effect that there was an armed and dangerous individual, possibly still on campus, sent immediately, could have saved lives. It doesn't matter if the campus is large, or the security force is limited. Students and teachers should have had that information, they would have been extremely alert to any thing suspicious, and it could have made a difference.

    Wouldn't you have been more careful that morning? Wouldn't you perhaps have heard the first shot and sprung into action? Instead people had to figure out what that noise was, and then decide if they were over-reacting, or if they would look foolish to run while there was still time, etc., etc.

    I'm not saying that the administration is to blame for this awful act, or that it could have been prevented. I'm saying that some cops drew a conclusion about a "domestic dispute" and based on that information the administration decided to alert the campus much later than they should have. It doesn't mean I'm trying to appropriate this tragedy for the feminist cause.

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