Rumors Fly After Campus Robbery

Editor's note: This article is part of the Daily Cal's Semester in Review series for the month of September.

Some students are saying they are disappointed with the campus’ failure to notify the community of an armed robbery and man-hunt near Haviland Hall Monday night, leaving many with little more than rumors as the police pursuit of two suspects unfolded.

Rumors spread of a shooting incident that turned out to be an armed robbery and consequent manhunt on the Northside of campus, in which police said BB gun shots were fired.

But the rumors began to be taken as fact by many students, who said they heard nothing official from police or campus officials and instead looked for information through friends.

Lacking official facts on the robbery as it was unfolding, students in the Greek community and the residence halls, among several other student organizations, took on the responsibility of alerting fellow students to what they knew of the situation.

The residence halls, which were put on lockdown after housing officials contacted campus police, were alerted to the situation after a resident contacted a resident director with speculative information regarding the man-hunt, said Dan Ocampo, associate director for academic services in housing and dining services.

“The only reason that we found out was because it just happened a hall staff contacted the residential director on call that had that information and wanted to confirm it,” Ocampo said. “We contacted UCPD instead of them contacting us. There were some things we needed to clarify. There was a lot of misinformation.”

UCPD Assistant Chief Mitch Celaya said that as the situation was unfolding, police wanted to avoid spreading unconfirmed information.

“As you learn more, you will learn that what you believed 10 minutes ago has changed,” he said.

He noted that widespread communication is a problem that all large campuses continue to face, but spreading information that can later turn out to be false is risky.

Some members of student organizations, including the University Students’ Cooperative Association, said they were completely unaware of the manhunt and said they were disturbed that they were not officially notified.

“I wasn’t aware of this,” said Jennifer Heller, spokesperson for the USCA. “We hadn’t heard about this instance and it makes us wonder about the dissemination of information. That’s a question for universities all over. How do you get the information quickly to all of the students when the time comes?”

Victoria Harrison, associate vice-chancellor and the chief of police, said it is very difficult for campus officials to notify students of an emergency situation late at night.

“At 9:30, 10 o’clock at night, there are not that many people here,” Harrison said. “It’s a different kind of structure during daytime hours. The ability to get something up on the Web page is something that we have to think about after normal business hours.”

In the wake of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute tragedy earlier this year, in which 32 people were killed by a gunman on campus, a report to President Bush emphasized the importance of communication in preventing such tragedies from recurring.

“In this regard, many noted the importance of, and challenges to, practicing the plan and making sure that everyone in the relevant community is aware of appropriate steps to take in an emergency,” the document stated.

Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard, who said he was not officially contacted regarding the incident, said campus police may have decided not to officially inform students of the news in order avoid widespread and unnecessary panic.

“We have to balance how much information you give out depending on the severity of the situation,” Poullard said.

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