Alert Carolina is Failing Our Students

Many UNC students feel unsafe after the University sent a delayed Alert Carolina message notifying them of a sexual assault at Shortbread Lofts (Image)

When UNC students receive an Alert Carolina message, most of the time they can count on it being about the weather — but sometimes, it isn’t. A couple of weeks ago, UNC students received an Alert Carolina message pertaining to an assault that occurred in Shortbread Apartments. The message shocked the student body and renewed student concerns over how UNC handles assaults and potentially dangerous campus events in general. The event also brought to light that the way UNC handles dangerous situations on campus is completely unsatisfactory, causes panic among students and is in desperate need of reform. 

Criticism of Alert Carolina isn’t new. Students have long been upset over the delayed notifications for crimes committed on or near campus. In 2018, the Daily Tar Heel published an article detailing student’s complaints that Alert Carolina had not notified them in a timely manner about an assault. Further, when students did get a notification, the details were wrong. Recently, students weren’t notified about what happened in Shortbread until the next morning. Assaults are not the only campus event that students have found themselves uninformed about. In the past year, armed white supremacy groups have been coming to UNC’s campus to protest the removal of Silent Sam, and yet students have received no warning. Students have made it clear to the University that these events make them feel unsafe, and yet, nothing has changed. When it comes to assaults on and off campus, the lack of information and potential misinformation has led female students to begin organizing in the popular Facebook group “Babes Who Blade.” Recently, members have been sharing their own experiences with harassment on and off campus, as well as resources for members to access. Student activists have also created a new “Anti-Racist Alert” system to notify students when white supremacists come to campus. These new systems are smart and a sign of the ingenuity and strength of the UNC student community; they are also a sign of a complete failure on behalf of the University. 

These failures of Alert Carolina are unacceptable and dangerous. Messages about crime on campus should be timely, not several hours after the crime has occurred. Students also need to receive Alerts when armed protestors are on campus. The issue of armed white supremacists on campus should not be controversial, and it should not be seen as partisan. Alert Carolina’s own guidelines state that students will be notified if there are “armed and dangerous” people on campus, or if a situation “is of significant interest to the campus.” Armed protesters certainly meet both of these categories. Further, the University is shirking its duties to provide a safe environment for its students, and instead, forcing that burden onto the students themselves. Asking students to keep themselves informed about danger on campus is ill conceived, unhealthy, and adds unnecessary stress onto the student body. Moreover, it is in the University’s interest to keep students informed. When students have to take action into their own hands to notify themselves of these situations, the University loses its means to manage how students are learning about potentially dangerous events. When it comes to assaults and crimes on campus, leaving it up to the students to notify each other allows for panic and the spread of misinformation, neither of which are conducive to a safe campus environment. 

There are several ways UNC can improve the method by which students are notified about safety, while also improving safety in general. For starters, UNC should begin to notify students about armed white supremacists on campus. It can also make sure that details about assaults are accurate and that they are sent out in a timely manner. UNC should also work with Chapel Hill Police on creating more safety precautions off campus, such as potentially adding more off campus blue lights. While it is understandable that the University might not want to cause panic by notifying students instantly of every crime or incident on campus, by not doing anything at all, the University is causing panic and eroding its trust with the student body. Right now, UNC is providing the bare minimum when it comes to campus safety. In order to quell student panic and distrust, that must change.