“The University of Akron is typically a safe place for students and faculty alike. Sure, occasionally the Odd Corner gets robbed or there are suspicious trespassers that get booted off campus. But as far as serious safety hazards go, UA is lucky to have only had to deal with a few.”
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The University of Akron is typically a safe place for students and faculty alike. Sure, occasionally the Odd Corner gets robbed or there are suspicious trespassers that get booted off campus.

But as far as serious safety hazards go, UA is lucky to have only had to deal with a few. 

That is, up until a couple weeks ago, when it started receiving anonymous bomb threats.

Despite bomb threats being arguably one of the most serious safety issues the university has ever had to deal with, students should be pleased with the efforts of the university as well as UAPD to keep the campus safe.

For the most part, these efforts seem to have put a tense mass of students at ease. It has almost become something of a joke, as students can now go to class and possibly hear a classmate say So, I wonder which building is gonna blow up today! 

One thing that has definitely put students at ease is how the university closes down a building after it is perceived to be dangerous, and has UAPD come out, along with the bomb squad, to sweep every nook and cranny for potential danger.

While this is an obvious thing to do, it is helpful to the students who witness the police on campus since it illustrates UA’s concern firsthand. 

Often people hear about bomb threats on the news, but having one occur at a person’s school hits far closer to home, as does seeing officials take a proactive role in ensuring that the building in question is safe.

Another thing UA should be praised for is the emergency text message system it has implemented. 

Students may sign up for this service and receive messages warning them of threats on campus. 

Students will of course have to pay for the texts themselves, but signing up for the service is free and worth considering. Even if the text only costs a dime, it could potentially save a student from being caught in the middle of a crisis.

Finally, the university helped calm students by sending out special edition Zipmails with updates on which buildings were closed due to the bomb threats and which buildings had been cleared by UAPD.

One thing about these emails, though, is that they could have been overlooked by students. A good deal of Zipmail goes out reading special edition, so there was really no way a student could identify that the e-mail might have urgent or important information regarding safety. 

Even so, they were helpful and comforting to students who had the awareness to read them.

The university has done a great job in handling the bomb threats. 

Students are clearly much less intimidated by the crisis at this point, thanks to the university’s response in implementing the new text message system and keeping the students posted via Zipmail. 

Apparently, UA has taken all the right steps to help maintain a safe atmosphere for students.

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