Note to readers • The Salt Lake Tribune does not generally consider anonymous op-ed submissions. However, because this author’s employment as a pre-tenured UVU professor may be at risk, we’ve granted anonymity under the use of a pseudonym. We have independently confirmed the author’s identity.
Less than a week before the fall semester began, I sat in a safety presentation at a faculty lunch. During the presentation, a safety management director walked us through our new “safety plan.”
This plan included locking our classroom doors in the event of an emergency. Immediately, faculty asked what to do if our doors don’t lock — this is the case for many classrooms throughout main campus. The presenter sighed and remarked that she had been asked about this all morning, as she rotated through the college faculty meetings and gave her presentation. She suggested we barricade our doors, or that we look on Amazon to find a gadget that will jam our doors — though she then reminded us this is against the fire code. Ultimately, she had no answer.
When a faculty member asked how the alert management system has been updated to address clear glitches and issues, she had no answer. When asked how Utah Valley University will keep faculty, staff and students safe this year, she said didn’t understand the question.
This time last year, Charlie Kirk was assassinated on UVU’s campus. On Sept. 10, I was teaching in a basement classroom when I heard a thundering noise overheard. I now know this was the sound of hundreds of people running down the Liberal Arts concourse towards the parking lot in utter panic. I sheltered in place with my students, who were terrified, hyperventilating and getting a torrent of social media updates and texts about what had happened. News reached our classroom about the shooting well before we ever received an alert from the university. The alerts that followed were unclear, contradictory and full of confusing template language that hadn’t been removed. The police never cleared our classroom; our floor was forgotten in the chaos.
Following the first alert stating that a suspect was in custody, I released my students from class, only to receive a message about 30 minutes later to shelter in place until police officers escorted us from campus. I then received a text less than 20 minutes later stating that there was an active shooter, then a text three minutes later to disregard that text. I spent nearly an hour in a muted panic, trying to get off campus with a colleague while feeling enormous stress and guilt that I had let students leave the relative safety of our classroom. I have carried the weight and trauma of that day with me since. I let my students leave my care because of incorrect information. I sent them out onto an unsecured campus, with the alleged shooter still in close range, wandering the neighborhood. I did not keep them safe.
When will UVU protect its faculty, staff and students? When will we update our alert management system to something robust enough to provide accurate, timely alerts to the 40,000+ people on campus (not counting the UCCU center)? When will faculty and students be given training on how to respond in an emergency that is specifically tailored to the UVU campus (connected buildings, non-locking doors, etc.)? When will I be able to teach in an environment in which I feel safe, and in which I feel I can keep students reasonably safe? When?
UVU needs to implement safety procedures and an alert management system that fits the needs of our large campus community (and unusual campus layout). I want a way to be able to lock my classroom door in case of an emergency. I want to receive timely alerts via text, email and phone call with instructions for what I should do during an emergency. Additionally, I believe that all students, faculty and staff should receive yearly safety training for our campus, not an imported module from Utah State University (which is the current training only for faculty and students). I love being at this university, and I know it can do better.
Cassandra is a pre-tenured professor at Utah Valley University.
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