The EIU Student Senate held a discussion at its Wednesday meeting concerning the university’s response to a false report of an armed person on campus Monday.  

Geography professor Cameron Craig was invited to speak to the Senate about problems he saw with the university’s handling of the situation. 

Craig also raised concerns to university administration and presented to the Faculty Senate. 

“First, the communication from administration failed on many aspects,” Craig said. 

Craig said there was a lack of communication and that there were instances in which students and staff did not get text alerts sent out by the university. 

Craig said there was also a message that was supposed to appear on computer screens in the classroom. 

“If the computer was engaged during lecture, it did not happen,” Craig said. 

He also said that confusion occurred when students got a text but didn’t understand it, students didn’t receive email alerts or, in some cases, parents received texts before their children did. 

Craig sent a prompt to his upwards of 60 students on Tuesday asking them about the situation, and he said that no one reported back saying the university handled the communication well. 

SGA members shared their own thoughts and experiences surrounding the incident. 

Elected Senator Valerie Harmon said there was a lot of confusion on reports and alerts that were given. 

“It was a lot of back-and-forth and not a lot of clear messaging,” Harmon said. “I think they just didn’t do anything to help people who were scared.” 

Senator Chip Ala said communication is something he wants to work on, describing a university Facebook message being sent out before a direct message to students and his information primarily coming from the anonymous social media app Yik Yak as “utterly ridiculous.” 

Senators also said people felt scared by the reports and were unsure of what to do.  

Senator Elaine Carman-Loveless said she drove almost two hours away to go back home. 

“I did not feel safe or comfortable, so me and my roommate as well both decided that we are still safer at home than here,” Carman-Loveless said.  

The confusion led to inconsistency between classes with some professors canceling and others continuing.  

Student Vice President of Academic Affairs Emilee Boyd said she had a friend who was present when the Mattoon High School shooting happened in 2017.  

Boyd said this past experience caused her friend to feel distraught and unable to go to classes on Monday. The professor of one of those classes was still counting attendance and penalizing absences, though penalties were later retracted.  

“She had arguably one of the best reasons to not go to class,” Boyd said. “I thought that was unacceptable.” 

The alert also caused different actions among faculty and students.  

Student Body President Claire Weber said she was in her introduction to criminal justice class during Monday’s incident. Her professor is a retired police officer and had the students sit in a locked office for two hours and didn’t let them leave until she thought it was safe.  

During this, Weber said she saw students walking outside through the window, which she found to be alarming. 

“It’s a wake-up call,” Craig said. 

Executive Vice President Mason Tegeler spoke about how he was “disturbed by the two sides” of what happened. He said that while some classrooms were locked, he was told to go to his job as a service assistant in Greek Court. 

“I’m sick to my stomach thinking about where are my friends,” Tegeler said. “There’s no information, and I have to go and sit at a desk in case somebody would like to pick up their Amazon package? It’s laughable.” 

SGA members said they felt there was a lack of training on how to handle these situations. 

“It was made just so crystal clear on Monday that this university is completely unprepared if anything real were to happen,” Tegeler said. “I think that seriously puts every student’s safety in serious risk.” 

Parliamentarian Sam Erwin, who is a resident assistant, said that he didn’t know what to do and told his residents to lock the building’s doors. 

Erwin said there should be some training as to what the protocol is for scenarios like this. 

Boyd said active shooter training is not mandated for faculty, and it is optional for department chairs. The last training occurred in 2018. 

Craig added to Boyd’s comment, saying Panther Marching Band does active shooter training every summer. 

Weber finished the discussion with a call to action. 

“There needs to be something we do now,” Weber said. “This is a weak point for this school. There’s no way of hiding that.” 

After the discussion, nominations for speaker of the Senate were held. Of those who were eligible, all were nominated, but only current speaker Megan Fox accepted. 

A vote to reappoint her to the role for the spring semester will be held on Dec. 3.

Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].