Angel

On August 21, three days after the murder-suicide on CSU campus, university administration held a community meeting to share updates on their incident response, communicate changes to future emergency handling, and listen to feedback from students, faculty, and staff. 

CSU president Dr. Stuart Rayfield began by noting that emergency management procedures were enacted quickly. The CARE team assembled within the hour of the crime to work with the police and contact victims’ friends and family. Similarly, the Counseling Center and Residence Life staff began reaching out to people who may have been impacted. 

Dr. Rayfield acknowledged that the Cougar Alert emergency announcement went out too late that day, approximately two hours after the incident, because the usual staff member responsible was off campus at the time. In response, more administrative staff members were granted access to the necessary systems to send alerts. Rayfield also noted that Cougar Alerts about adverse weather conditions had become too frequent during summer storms, leading many students to ignore them. Cougar Alerts are now intended only for emergencies which require action, in hopes of regaining student perceptions of their importance. 

University Police verified that the incident was contained quickly and its cooperation with Columbus Police Department was ‘seamless.’ UPD Chief Laura Bennett apologized for the delay in sending out a Cougar Alert, citing inadequately slow procedures and a lack of emergency contact information.  

The floor was opened for attendees to voice their questions, comments, or concerns on the incident response. Some students commented that they felt unsafe on campus and asked for more proactive safety training from staff. Faculty members also voiced desires for extra training about gun-related situations and how to discuss them with students. Some attendees also expressed confusion around the language used in the day’s Cougar Alert, which described the crime as a “gun-related incident” and elaborated that there was no immediate threat.  The alert’s vague description caused uncertainty about what had actually occurred and what students needed to do.