Officials vow improvement after stabbing information updates hampered critical campus communications
In the aftermath of the stabbing of freshman finance major Michael Knorps on Monday, Aug. 27, students and staff have reflected on the manner in which the university notified the CU community about the situation.
E-mail notification of the stabbing, sent to CU e-mail accounts by Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson, arrived nearly twelve hours after the incident.
The stabbing occurred at 9:43 a.m., and the university issued a text message alert by 10:20 a.m. to 1,300 CU students. The mass text message was only sent out to those registered with a newly implemented emergency text messaging system.
But not all students, staff, and faculty were registered with the system or received the critical message until a “News Alert E-Memo” was sent that evening at 10:30 p.m.
“I think the e-mail was just too little, too late,” said Matthew Samek, 22, a senior finance major. “It was apologetic which was good, but I didn’t even bother to read the entire message.”
Samek said that he heard so much about the incident by word of mouth that the e-mail was of no importance.
Chancellor Peterson said that his preference is always to notify campus community members right away of any emergency situation.
“Unfortunately, at several points during the morning and early afternoon, when we were preparing to send out an e-mail message, additional information was obtained that required a delay until we could sort everything out,” Peterson said in an e-mail to The Campus Press.
Boulder emergency officials responded to the emergency situation quickly, but many students are left feeling that university officials did not do the same.
Chancellor Peterson said he strives to alleviate these concerns.
“This underscores the problem with e-mail communication generally as tools of fast communication, and specifically on how we employ emergency e-mail messaging at CU,” Peterson said. “We have learned from this experience, and are developing more timely ways to communicate with faculty, staff and students as situations evolve. You have my pledge we will make improvements in this regard.”
In addition to their official university email accounts, students can also call 303-492-INFO or check CU Connect for detailed emergency information and updates.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Sarah Ruybalid at sarah.ruybalid@colorado.edu
