We've got a few bones to pick with university administrators after Monday's "bomb scare" in the Reitz Union.
UF failed to send a text message alert to students, despite the fact that portions of the Reitz Union parking garage were closed off and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office had to send a bomb squad robot to detect a potential explosive.
Just because the section of campus affected by the scare only "involved an area with a roughly 500-foot radius," is a text message not worth the safety of the students within that area?
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said that officials only use the system when there is a "credible threat that has the potential to affect the entire campus."
Orlando said UF did not send out a mass text message because officials did not see a clear threat to the university.
There was a bomb threat. On campus. At the University of Florida.
As students, we would rather see the university err on the side of caution and alert the student body when there's a potential bomb sitting near where we're enjoying our mid-morning MexiMelt from Taco Bell.
And what kind of fabric softener contains sand as a main ingredient?
ASO spokesman Art Forgey said that the two substances are fairly similar. Since when did Snuggle start using sand?
We were less than impressed with the bomb squad robot's performance, as well.
Not only did it incorrectly identify the substance in question, but it also dropped the powder-filled backpack, spilling its shady contents all over the Reitz Union parking lot.
Regardless of whether the backpack was filled with sand, fabric softener or Anthrax, if it takes a robot to detect its ingredients, it may be in the university's best interest to inform students next time.
From their perspective, we can understand if university officials don't want to inform students of every little thing that happens on campus to avoid crowds gathering and creating too much commotion.
But UF officials clearly thought this was a serious threat because they called the bomb squad to investigate. We agree that students shouldn't be told about every insignificant happening, but officials certainly didn't treat yesterday's bomb scare as a mundane occurrence.
We believe the text message alert system should be used to notify students and faculty of any events that may affect them. Although the Reitz Union occupies a relatively small physical space, it is one of the most heavily trafficked areas of campus.
Students fund the alert system, which costs about $33,000 a year, according to Alligator archives. If students want to be notified of things like this, administrators should listen.
The university took the necessary precautions when responding to the possible threat, but forgot a vital part of handling an emergency: informing students.
