CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – “We grabbed all the desks and pushed them against the door,” said Steven Alonso, who was in class in Murphy Hall on August 28th.
He was confused and scared just like so many students that day.
The concern that followed was evident in findings from a survey released by UNC last week.
More than 3,000 people – students, families, faculty and others from the Carolina community – responded to an online portal asking for feedback on the university’s response to the August 28th shooting.
Alert Carolina was often mentioned, specifically a desire for more frequent messages and sharing the location of the incident.
Requiring more training, especially for faculty and staff, and ensuring building safety with door locks and specific plans were also brought up in the survey results.
“There are glass panes as you can easily see.” Alonso said. “So that wouldn’t inhibit anybody from coming in.”
Those weren’t the only concerns over the response. UNC Police Chief Brian James told leaders at a Board of Trustees meeting that he wants:
- To consolidate camera systems and reduce blind spots
- Install license plate readers
- Enhance partnerships with other law enforcement agencies
Josmell Perez of the Center for Latinx Students at UNC pointed out another concern.
“Anytime that those alert messages come out from Alert Carolina, it’s always a sense of panic,” Perez said. “It’s just normal human reaction to worry about ‘what does this mean?’ It’s another added layer when you don’t know the language. So it’s a miservice that we are not able to provide the bilingual messaging.”
That day, he worried about those who did not understand the language, but also worried about something beyond campus.
“On a personal note, I have a fourth grader who, she understood a little bit more, but our middle daughter is a kindergartener who really struggled with it,” Perez said.
Not far from campus, students at Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools also went on lockdown.
“My first two thoughts were is my kid safe?,” said Chris Mahoney, a parent of a CHCCS student. “Because he was out of school. It’s about a mile away from UNC. And the second thing was, I have friends who work there as professors and I knew they were very close to where that shooter was.”
Another parent said that the communication between the school system and the public was slower than it should have been.
“There are students here that are dually enrolled at UNC,” said Kari Hamel, the parent of a student that was in lockdown. “So you want to stop movement, you want to make sure everybody is positioned with high quality information.”
Because as August 28th proved– what happens at the university doesn’t just affect those on campus, it can impact the entire Carolina community.
Samantha Marles contributed reporting to this story.