Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Opinions

Our View
Situation:	Last week, the University Police Department posted fliers warning students about an alleged incident.
Stance:	The UPD should have sent e-mails instead of post fliers because not everyone lives on campus or saw the fliers.

The University Police Department used an old-fashioned means of distributing information last Thursday about a woman who was allegedly assaulted off campus.

The UPD put up fliers all around campus with a timely warning Friday afternoon informing the campus community that a man allegedly harassed a woman and threatened her with a knife.

Although the warning was posted a whole day after the incident, UPD worked with the Charleston Police Department as quickly as possible and made sure that all the information was correct on the fliers before posting them.

The UPD could have saved some time and could have brought the matter to the attention of more students if an e-mail alert was sent out instead of just fliers being posted.

However, Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said e-mail alerts are reserved for incidents that occur on or around campus. The woman was allegedly assaulted on 17th Street, about a mile away from Eastern's campus.

The man who allegedly attacked a woman was still at-large during the weekend, and students who don't live on campus probably missed the warning.

Had the warning been sent to students' e-mails, more students would have probably taken extra precautions during the weekend.

The university does not want to do anything that will sacrifice students' safety. But not sending out e-mails may have done so.

We understand that Nadler wants to make sure the e-mail alert is not abused so students will still take them seriously.

We also understand the new text-message alert system is still new and e-mails are still reserved, for the most part, for imminent danger.

Surely, if e-mails had been sent out, students who may have been unaware of the incident because they weren't on campus would have secured a ride instead of walking or would have partnered with someone instead of walking around alone.

If the university is going to take the liberty to put up fliers, e-mails may as well have been sent out. That way, not just a limited amount of people can put their guard up - everyone can.

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