After the shocking murders at Virginia Tech, colleges and universities reviewed their safety and emergency procedures – a prudent effort to calm student nerves and safeguard their campuses.
It’s incumbent on school officials, however, to ensure they don’t overreact. Unfortunately, that seems to be happening at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
UNC posted a page titled “Virginia Tech Tragedy” on its website, where it offered a description of UNC’s emergency plan and told how students can express sympathy.
So far, so good.
But the site also includes a link to people who are “persona non grata” on the UNC campus. The page includes names of two dozen people banned from school grounds, some with pictures attached.
The page doesn’t include any information about why each individual is banned, but says their “behavior is not appropriate” for campus. Spokesman Nate Haas said privacy guidelines forbid being more specific. UNC President Kay Norton says those on the list “aren’t necessarily dangerous,” but may be unwelcome because they violated the school’s code of conduct.
One of those pictured is Mitchell Cozad. Because his case has been widely reported, many of us know Cozad is a UNC football player accused of stabbing a teammate. It may be prudent for UNC to post a warning about this young man, who is accused of a violent and fundamentally irrational act.
But why post the name and photograph of a 21-year-old Loveland woman who suffers from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder? The woman has said in interviews she was suspended from UNC after collapsing at a campus rec center. She also has a pending misdemeanor assault charge in a scuffle with hospital staff attempting to treat her, she said. It seems insensible to connect such transgressions with Virginia Tech.
Also posted on the site is a Greeley woman who had been hired to be a custodian, but failed to clear probation. Corinne Sanchez, 44, said she missed too much work due to health problems. She told the Rocky Mountain News that after her firing, she left a phone message for her supervisor that wasn’t threatening, but warned that karma is “going to kick you in the butt.” Is that what got her on the list?
The website is a blunt instrument that fails to provide useful information about potential threats. Posting a link to the site under the banner of “Virginia Tech Tragedy” recklessly connects the non grata group with the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. Not all violations of the student code should be associated with that awful day. UNC officials should use reasonable judgment in how they present such information to the campus community.
