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FAMU Students Say They're in Dark on Security Threats

By Tanya Caldwell
Black College Wire

Florida A&M University freshman Tova Hairston doesn't know what the procedures are for an emergency situation, or even whether she should attend her classes.

"Nobody told me anything," the 19-year-old from New Bern, N.C., said. "I just wouldn't go."

The "high" threat condition, which has been in effect since March 17, is one of the most serious national threat levels, second only to "severe." But a week later, FAMU students said they had not received information on campus about the alert.

According to an advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "the assignment of a Threat Condition shall prompt the implementation of an appropriate set of Protective Measures. Protective Measures are the specific steps an organization shall take to reduce its vulnerability or increase its ability to respond during a period of heightened alert."

Calvin Ross, chief of police of the FAMU Police Department, recently sent an undated memo addressed to "FAMU Administration, Faculty, Staff and Students," concerning the national threat level.

"The Police Department will continue to make available to you, the FAMU community, any information of importance toward securing your safety," the memo read. "E-mails, bulletins, flyers and announcements will be forthcoming to keep you updated."

Hairston said she didn't receive the memo.

Other students said they were equally uninformed, but FAMU's assistant chief of police, Michael Wallace, said there are a variety of ways in which students are notified of such information.

"We can use the Web page, we've done leaflets, because students are so mobile we have to use a variety of sources," Wallace said.

Wallace said the department had distributed leaflets with the terrorist alert information, and that posting the same information on the university's Web site, www.famu.edu, would be one solution to efficiently informing the FAMU community.

Debrechea Hopkins, 20, a sophomore criminal justice student from Cocoa, Fla., said that e-mailing students about such important information would be inefficient because not enough students use their campus mail accounts.

"Nobody knows about FAMU e-mail," Hopkins said.

"The Web site is definitely a good source," said Dhyana Ziegler, acting vice president of research, planning and analysis, which is in charge of the Web site.

"We have not received that information, but we have no problems posting it on the Web site," Ziegler said. "We would put anything online, especially at this level, to alert faculty and students to be safe."

Wallace said the FAMU Police Department was working with the public affairs office to make sure that information was relayed efficiently. "The plan is that we put the information together, and the office of public affairs is responsible for disseminating that information out," Wallace said. Information about the national threat level is not on the university's Web site. But Ziegler said the department would be more than happy to post the information. (A "code orange alert" was later posted on the website where it now appears.)

"They (public affairs) serve as the focal point," Wallace said. "We have an emergency operation center that deals with university emergencies. Public affairs is on that staff."

Students Hairston and Hopkins said they didn't know about an emergency operation center.

"The only thing I know to do is pray," Hairston said. Florida A&M University freshman Tova Hairston doesn't know what the procedures are for an emergency situation, or even whether she should attend her classes.

"Nobody told me anything," the 19-year-old from New Bern, N.C., said. "I just wouldn't go."

The "high" threat condition, which has been in effect since March 17, is one of the most serious national threat levels, second only to "severe." But a week later, FAMU students said they had not received information on campus about the alert.

According to an advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "the assignment of a Threat Condition shall prompt the implementation of an appropriate set of Protective Measures. Protective Measures are the specific steps an organization shall take to reduce its vulnerability or increase its ability to respond during a period of heightened alert."

Calvin Ross, chief of police of the FAMU Police Department, recently sent an undated memo addressed to "FAMU Administration, Faculty, Staff and Students," concerning the national threat level.

"The Police Department will continue to make available to you, the FAMU community, any information of importance toward securing your safety," the memo read. "E-mails, bulletins, flyers and announcements will be forthcoming to keep you updated."

Hairston said she didn't receive the memo.

Other students said they were equally uninformed, but FAMU's assistant chief of police, Michael Wallace, said there are a variety of ways in which students are notified of such information.

"We can use the Web page, we've done leaflets, because students are so mobile we have to use a variety of sources," Wallace said.

Wallace said the department had distributed leaflets with the terrorist alert information, and that posting the same information on the university's Web site, www.famu.edu, would be one solution to efficiently informing the FAMU community.

Debrechea Hopkins, 20, a sophomore criminal justice student from Cocoa, Fla., said that e-mailing students about such important information would be inefficient because not enough students use their campus mail accounts.

"Nobody knows about FAMU e-mail," Hopkins said.

"The Web site is definitely a good source," said Dhyana Ziegler, acting vice president of research, planning and analysis, which is in charge of the Web site.

"We have not received that information, but we have no problems posting it on the Web site," Ziegler said. "We would put anything online, especially at this level, to alert faculty and students to be safe."

Wallace said the FAMU Police Department was working with the public affairs office to make sure that information was relayed efficiently. "The plan is that we put the information together, and the office of public affairs is responsible for disseminating that information out," Wallace said. Information about the national threat level is not on the university's Web site. But Ziegler said the department would be more than happy to post the information. (A "code orange alert" was later posted on the website where it now appears.)

"They (public affairs) serve as the focal point," Wallace said. "We have an emergency operation center that deals with university emergencies. Public affairs is on that staff."

Students Hairston and Hopkins said they didn't know about an emergency operation center.

"The only thing I know to do is pray," Hairston said.

Posted March 31, 2003

Tanya Caldwell is a student at Florida A&M University who writes for The Famuan.