Safety Issues and Communication about Threats on Campus

February 2009 issue

I would like to voice my concern over how the Lincoln Park Library bomb threat was communicated out to the University. An email was sent out but the University did not use the DPU alert system. While I have seen the quote in the DePaulia by Denise Mattson about why this choice was made I would like some clarification. In the past I received a call, multiple text messages and an email regarding a gas leak in the Loop. Yet for a bomb threat in LPC, I only received an email. While I understand the Loop incident caused classes to canceled, the LPC event in my opinion was far more disturbing and although media relations doesn’t believe so impacted the entire campus not just one building. Had students or staff not been on email at that very moment the email was sent out, they may have headed to the library for meetings, research etc. only to find out upon their arrival that it had been closed due to this threat. In addition many areas heard about the threat through the grapevine almost 30 minutes before the official notification was sent out by DePaul. I am writing to ask that Staff Council look into the policy and criteria for using this system. I hope that Staff Council can then work with the University to communicate this policy to the entire DePaul faculty, staff and student population.

Response

Response: In response to this Voice of Staff, Staff Council invited Bob Wachowski, Director of the Lincoln Park Public Safety Office, and Denise Mattson, Associate Vice President for Public Relations, to attend the March 2009 Staff Council meeting to discuss safety procedures. Please view the March 2009 Meeting Minutes in the Minutes Archive to read the conversation. 

http://staffcouncil.depaul.edu/_meetings.htm Click the link that says Agenda and Minutes Archive. You will be prompted for you Campus Connections Log-in.