COLUMN: Gaps in CMUPD, University Communications are a concern for all


Weeks ago, a family member of a professor walked into Pearce Hall, started an altercation with the professor in front of frightened and confused students, and proceeded to utter the words – according to Central Michigan University Police – “do I have to go get a gun and shoot everyone in the room?”

CMUPD officers found the 70-year-old man within minutes outside the building in his vehicle, searching him immediately for a weapon. They did not find a weapon on his person.

No alert was issued. The incident went underreported by the police and university officials, and was only known to the community through a story published online by the local paper, The Morning Sun.

Let me repeat that: Police did not issue a security alert, nor did University Communications acknowledge the event.

Each time we report on a story like this, the same question comes up for us in the newsroom and the student body: Why didn’t the university or the police notify us immediately after or while it was happening?

This is especially true in the case of the Delta Chi investigation last year, after one of its members was accused of sexually assaulting a student and violating the Student Code of Conduct.

During that investigation, I asked the same question: Where was the alert?

The answer, offered by CMUPD Chief Bill Yeagley and Shaun Holtgreive, executive director of Campus Life, was logical.

In May, the pair told Central Michigan Life that the Jeanne Clery Act states that campus alerts must be issued and should only be issued if there is a confirmation of an immediate threat or danger to campus or community safety. The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that receive federal student aid to disclose campus safety information. It also sets requirements for handling incidents of sexual violence and emergencies.

In the case of the Delta Chi situation, there was no active or immediate threat to campus safety, according to Yeagley, since the report of the event was filed days to a week afterward.

So how does that explain not issuing an alert about a man threatening a classroom and an entire building’s safety?

Again, Yeagley’s argument is sound, but no more reassuring.

Because the man was believed to not have a weapon on him by the account of the witness calling into police dispatch for help, the police chief did not find it necessary to issue the alert. His decision went beyond sheer necessity: Yeagley is adamant that he will not use the alert system for anything other than what it is designed for.

What it is designed for, he said, is immediate danger, not the dissemination of police activity – even if that police activity involves the investigation of a potential, however unconfirmed threat.

“The reason I don’t want to use it for anything other than immediate threats is because it needs to be effective,” Yeagley told me in a set of conversations earlier in the week. “It’s not that we don’t want to disclose information to the community. We just want to make sure it’s done in a way that’s effective. We still want to provide information of what took place, but the right method is not the alert system.”

I’m pretty sure most students can understand his reasoning, even if they have voiced concern on social media that the school has a problem of not giving us timely information about bad news on campus, especially as it pertains to threats.

When asked about students feeling unsafe on campus, Yeagley said he feels “terrible.”

“My whole goal is to keep people safe, but also to make them feel safe,” he said. “While we followed all of our protocols and policies, there’s still a gap in communication. How? That’s what we’re going to find out.”

It’s good that he is, because it’s not just students who are worried – it’s faculty as well. At last week’s Academic Senate meeting, professors expressed a deep concern for the way the incident was handled, from the way the professor was treated by administration to lack of information.

Clearly, Yeagley’s attempt to do so has caused more mistrust of the police and the university’s ability to notify us of danger on campus.

But he is working on it.

Within a week of the incident, Yeagley sent emails to Sherry Knight, associate vice president of University Communications, and Dennis Armistead, executive director of Faculty Personnel Services. The emails called for a meeting to discuss which existing outlets for disseminating information to campus would be best to relay reports like this. They would include a full summary of the incident, what happened and what action police took to alleviate the situation.

The meeting is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 24. He hopes that the meeting will help expedite a solution to releasing police information and making students more aware if an alert is not deemed appropriate.

I hope they do too. As the nation begins to harbor more distrust of law enforcement and its ability to keep us safe, we cannot, and should not, allow that same sentiment take root against our own police department – even if they do deserve a hard look in terms of best practices.

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About Ben Solis

Ben Solis is the Managing Editor of Central Michigan Life. He has served as a city and university ...

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