This week alone at Texas A&M University in College Station there have been many bomb threats called in. This post is very personal to me because I have a ton of friends that go to there. Since I speak to my friends daily, they have been telling me that despite the threats, class is still going on there. To me this was not only very concerning for the safety of all the people, but I almost cried at the thought of such violence. When I searched the news, I found an article that said that the reason why class was still in attendance is because the Bomb threats weren't credible. However, they took "measures" by heightening security.
According to Texas A&M's website, a bomb threat is defined as "a verbal threat to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage or injuries, whether or not such a device actually exists." Also, their protocol, if having received a call, is to evacuate buildings and classes. You can read more about their protocols here.
While I am sure they had reason to believe that these threats weren’t credible it still concerns me that they continued on with class. I also believe that since this is the week before spring break some crazy student wanted to get out of class. But this does not dismiss the fact that the bomb threats could have been real.
A few years ago in 2010, there was believed to be shooter in a tower. While it turned out to be nothing but a student with a toy gun, classes were dismissed, the campus evacuated, and police called in (cant find a link for this but I remember this myself). I remember calling my friends a million times to make sure they were ok. I was so worried to the point when one of them didn’t answer that I cried.
My point is, is if this much effort is taken for a potential shooting, why not for bomb threats? A bomb could kill way more people than a gun could if both threats were real. Also, a bomb could destroy a whole building.
To me, all of this unsettling and very scary to think of. I wonder if Schreiner had a bomb threat, how would security handle that? I would like to think security would take it very seriously. Also, I wonder if bigger schools are more likely to brush it off and smaller schools are willing to take it more seriously? Also, I wonder if this is more common in bigger cities? What do you think?
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ReplyDeleteI too have friends who attend A&M and it is scary that the school does not seem to take them seriously. But if we look at the whole picture, it makes sense why the university does not completely shut down.
ReplyDeleteIf A&M was to shut their doors every time there was a bomb threat, wouldn't there be an influx in threats? Students who are under extreme stress who have an intense mid term or final coming up could be willing to do anything to have a test post poned.
I highly doubt Schreiner would react the same way due to the fact the size of our school. But this sparks some food for thought...what would you personally do if you were faced with this type of threat?
It depends. If it was at Schreiner it would be taken very seriously. I believe the bomb threats were prevalent because it was just before spring break. So therefore, these threats most likely were not serious. But nonetheless, If I were an administrator every precaution would be taken to prevent injury of the students. Maybe what they did was not such a bad thing. But threats of any kind can have truth to them and thats why this is scary to me.
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