University of Iowa students alarmed by nationwide surge in hoax shooting calls
Since Thursday, at least 11 colleges and universities have experienced “swatting” incidents - the term for calls made about shootings or other public safety threats that .
On Monday, the Iowa State University police department received two calls claiming there was an active shooter on campus.
Schools such as Villanova University and the University of South Carolina have also experienced similar calls, with students taking cover and police responding to the campus but not finding a threat.
As university students make their way to classes for the first weeks of the fall semester, these fake calls can cause worry.
Though no swatting has occurred at the University of Iowa during this first week of classes, students are still nervous about the fear a possible swatting situation could bring to their campus, .
“I think about that kind of stuff on a daily basis,” said Iowa senior Samantha Stewart regarding the possibility of a shooting.
Both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have an emergency alert system to communicate with their campus communities about threats to public safety.
The Iowa Campus Safety team creates “Hawk Alerts,” which send information about the affected location to all students and employees to urge people to stay out of the area and keep safe.
These alerts make some Iowa students feel more secure - and one student said he feels comfortable on campus and in downtown Iowa City.
”I try to live, like, not worried, but obviously I understand that people should be worried," said Iowa junior David Markusic. “It’s a bad thing that that’s happening, so I completely understand that.”
In the wake of the fake shooting calls at other universities, graduate student Jack Bryson would like more communication about swatting as a reminder for students to sign up for the alert system.
“Maybe if the university could put out some form of mass email, just letting people know that this is happening, and it’s something to be aware of,” said Bryson. “Make sure everyone is signed up for Hawk Alerts, that would be a great program to have.”
According to the university’s campus safety team, all students, faculty and staff are automatically enrolled in the alert system. However, the university does send reminders throughout the year to update notification settings and make sure people are signed up for text messages, which are the quickest method to receive the information.
With the university’s own experience with a shooting and the death of five victims , and a shooting killing two students at a Catholic school in Minneapolis Wednesday, some students worry about the possibility of a false alarm bringing more worry to their minds.
“The T. Anne Cleary walkway is named after someone who died in a shooting... it is absolutely something that worries me,” said Stewart.
T. Anne Cleary was one of the victims of the 1991 shooting on the Iowa campus.
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