Editorial
A bomb threat in April 2023 was improperly handled among security. An electrical fire in the H Building wasn’t addressed for 15 minutes, even after contact from those involved. A home invasion happened just down the road from campus, unbeknownst to many. A false alarm that wasn’t even glanced at for two hours. The sound of gunshots that made some students hide, while others remained unaware.
These are just a few recent examples of failures that MCCC has unfortunately been experiencing, and what students should absolutely not have to deal with just trying to get an education.
The Agora believes students have the right to know when dangerous situations arise, regardless of the level of threat. There should be stronger communication with those who are attending the school, and our security should be taking their title seriously in genuinely keeping campus as secure as possible.
The bomb threat from 2023 came from a social media post and was quickly declared false. However, the lack of communication to security in a timely manner, whether purposeful or not, led to the resignation of former chief of Security Services, Charlie Abel.
The electrical fire, also from 2023, was not properly addressed after the fire alarm was set to “test” and security believed it was a false alarm, despite receiving a call about it from Nicole Garner, interim director of nursing, who was there and extinguished the fire.
The home invasion happened during school hours on Oct. 25 just down the road from the college. Not a single security alert was sent to students despite its proximity, and even then an email was sent after the fact, and it was only sent to employees.
On the same day as the home invasion, an alert button was accidentally pressed in the Writing Center and created a false alarm, which took security almost three hours to respond to. Their mailbox was full so the students involved were unable to leave a message. Regardless, security did not address a potential dangerous situation in a timely manner. These incidents both occurred around the same time.
The sound of gunshots near campus on Nov. 5 resulted in some students hiding in an office in the C Building for protection. Hearing anything of the sort should raise concern. Instead, school was allowed to go on like nothing happened. Thankfully, the gunshots were just a farmer shooting in the cornfield next to campus. Even if this particular situation ended up being non-violent, shouldn’t we notify students about the gunshots in general? Shouldn’t we be more safe than sorry?
As students, we deserve to receive timely alerts. Safety should absolutely never be taken lightly.
Why did students have no knowledge of the active hostage situation that was happening just down the road? Why were we left in the dark?
Why aren’t we hearing of these issues from our security or our president? Instead, we are hearing from social media and the people around us.
Absolutely none of these situations were handled the way they should be. No communication. No sense of urgency.
There seems to be a lack of understanding when it comes to emergencies on campus. And, when it specifically comes to the security on campus, a lacking knowledge about how to answer a phone when emergencies come calling.
Clearly, in at least one of these situations, someone contacted security to notify them of what’s going on. But security was unreachable.
How are students supposed to feel “secure” in contacting a security team with a full mailbox, knowing there won’t be an answer?
It’s scary to think of all the events that have happened on campus that were not addressed properly. It’s even scarier to imagine worlds where people actually get hurt in these situations.
The safety of both students and staff should be the highest priority on campus. No one should have to feel an ounce of fear when attending college.
Calls need to be answered. Security needs to be taken seriously. Communication needs to be improved. Students need to be listened to.
We deserve to be notified about these situations. If we can be informed in a timely manner about closings and delays on campus, we should be able to be informed about potential life-threatening situations.
The Agora editorial board consists of the two editors.
