Editorial: In case of emergency, notify everyone

Did you hear about the reported man with a gun in the Cathedral yesterday? Neither did we — at… Did you hear about the reported man with a gun in the Cathedral yesterday? Neither did we — at least not through the Emergency Notification System.

That’s because the University did not issue an ENS alert to students, despite a 911 caller telling police he saw a man with a gun in the Cathedral.

Pitt police responded to the call. They checked the Cathedral and since-emptied room in which the armed man had allegedly been seen. However, they did not find anyone carrying a gun and did not deem the situation a threat that warranted evacuation or emergency notification alert (see news story).

The logic behind not evacuating the Cathedral is questionable, at best. While an array of reasons might exist, officials offered two chief explanations regarding why they didn’t alert the students and staff in the building. First, the gun was not drawn, thus theoretically decreasing its hazard. Wait, it gets better.

Also, Pitt did not evacuate the Cathedral like it would in the event of a bomb threat because, “The threat is substantially different with a bomb because it could affect the entire building,” according to Pitt spokesman John Fedele.

We can assume that Fedele was not referring to structural damage, that his statement reflects concern for all the students inside that building. But then the question is: How many lives need to be in danger before the University sends out a text message?

Our answer: One.

A reportedly unknown, armed man in the Cathedral potentially threatens many students. Although unconfirmed by police, this is not something that the University can withhold from students and faculty. Such information is exactly what the ENS was designed to broadcast.

Most everyone has sat through bomb scares — in high school or college — and thankfully these situations are often false alarms. But those experiences cannot desensitize us from treating each instance with equal concern.

We cannot be sure that, if a person were armed and wandering the Cathedral, he did not have some legitimate explanation. However, we can be sure that the police were not aware of any such explanation, and they felt enough need to respond that they searched the building for some time.

Something is inherently wrong with the University and police knowing about a potential threat — however unlikely — and choosing not to inform students and staff.

Even if officials determined that the situation wasn’t a threat, the worries and confusion instilled by the police presence — combined with the very slight but very real possibility that someone actually had a gun in the building — should compel those officials to notify and advise the Pitt community to the best of their ability.