Chief of Police, students discuss absence of ENS alert following assault of two Jewish students on campus

After two Jewish students were attacked near the Cathedral of Learning on Friday evening, Levy Nys believes an ENS Alert from the University would have helped eased students’ anxiety and confusion about the assault. 

“Students deserve to remain informed no matter what that information is,” Nys, a sophomore law, criminal justice, and society major, said.

Although law enforcement quickly responded to the attack and arrested the perpetrator, no formal ENS alert was sent to the Pitt community. Chief of Pitt Police Holly Lamb said because the University of Pittsburgh Police Department officer on patrol “immediately came upon the in-progress incident and took the actor into custody,” there was no need to alert students.

“Since the situation was immediately contained, and there was no emerging, imminent, or ongoing threat to the campus community, therefore an ENS alert was not necessary to warn students to take immediate protective safety measures,” Lamb said.

According to Lamb, crime alerts are issued to alert the Pitt community of crimes enumerated by the Clergy Act that may “pose an ongoing threat of recurrence.” She said the ENS system and other safety alerts used by the University are governed by Procedure AO 07 Campus Crime Awareness: Crime Reporting, Crime Alerts, and Emergency Notification.

Because Nys and many of her friends listen to the police scanner to stay up-to-date with public safety concerns, she learned of the attack quickly.

“After that, we just waited for Pitt to respond, especially considering how close the incident occurred to where people live and study,” Nys said.

Savannah Skinner, a junior neuroscience major, was in the Cathedral of Learning at the time of the incident, but did not hear about the event until later that night when she was scrolling through Reddit.

“I didn’t see any security or police officers when I was in the Cathedral, and nobody walking around even seemed to know what had happened,” Skinner said. “That night, when I saw the headline, I was equally chilled by what had happened itself, and by the fact that something like that had happened practically right next to me and I didn’t even realize it.”

Sofie Tepperman, a sophomore natural sciences major on the pre-physician assistant track, thinks issuing an ENS alert would help students understand the reality of the situation. 

“I think that something needed to go out to alert students that something dangerous was in the area,” Tepperman said. “It did not even have to be specific, it just needed to explain that there needed to be extra caution in the area like they usually do. Regardless of the fact that it was hateful or against Jewish students, there needed to be action taken on some regard. It also just left people questioning the legitimacy of the situation, and that also is not okay because it was very real.”

ENS messages are only sent out when “there is an imminent or ongoing specific threat to campus safety,” which ensures that they remain “salient and actionable,” according to Lamb. She said while law enforcement did not issue an ENS alert for this particular situation, public safety and University officials used safety.pitt.edu and University social channels to “let the campus community know that the situation occurred but is not ongoing.”

Despite the University declaring that there was no ongoing threat to the Pitt community, many students feel that the lack of communication only added to the chaos of the event.

“I don’t think sending an ENS alert would have caused panic at all, especially if they make it clear that the situation was resolved,” Nys said. “I think people panic more when there isn’t an alert, because that makes it seem like nobody at Pitt is aware or handling the situation.”

Skinner said she was “astonished” that Pitt did not send out an ENS alert after “such a violent incident.” She acknowledged that although the perpetrator was caught right away, she wished that police would have advised students to stay away from the area to make sure no other threats presented themselves.

“I understand their thinking is that they don’t want to freak people out if the incident is under control, but I think it is always better to be safe than sorry, and the panic that might ensue from a false sense of danger is nothing compared to more people getting physically hurt if they misjudge their control of the situation,” Skinner said.

Lamb said the UPPD has supervisors available and on call 24 hours a day, ready to issue ENS and crime alerts if necessary. She said she encourages students and staff to follow UPPD accounts on Instagram, X and Facebook to stay up to date on crime and public safety information. 

Tepperman believes the Pitt Police should send ENS alerts when “there is a potential threat to any student’s safety.”

“Every student deserves to feel safe, but also be informed when something is dangerous and needs to be known to the public,” Tepperman said.

According to Lamb, the FBI also responded to a request for assistance from the UPPD in relation to the incident. She said UPPD consulted with the District Attorney’s Office, which “has not filed charges related to a hate crime at this time, hence our language with the community message.”

Lamb said while appropriate measures were taken to address the incident, the UPPD is committed to keeping all members of the Pitt community safe.

“Nonetheless, we appreciate our ongoing obligation to protect members of not only our Jewish community but all of our students, staff and faculty from any kind of harassment, hatred or violence,” Lamb said.

Nys believes that Pitt Police could better respond to future threats by utilizing multiple different methods of communication.

“I think immediate communication with other police and the student body, de-escalation tactics, and actual on-site and in-depth interviews would help the police resolve situations much more peacefully and quickly than what they’ve been doing,” Nys said. “I still don’t understand how they determined this wasn’t targeted at Jewish people, but releasing that information is essential to the school’s understanding of the crime as well.”