“The Hawk Alert System is used to notify the campus community of threats to physical safety in emergency situations. Hawk Alert allows UI administrators to send recorded or electronic emergency messages (“Hawk Alerts”) to UI students, faculty, and staff by mobile phone, home phone, office phone, and e-mail, using contact information you provide to the University.” (hawkalert.uiowa.edu)
The Hawk Alert System is often the first thing you hear about on orientation day. It’s purpose being to keep students informed and aware of potential threats to their safety. The Hawk Alert System reassures students and parents alike that the University of Iowa is aware of a situation and looking out for the safety of all of it’s students.
Yet the biggest question going through the minds of most Hawkeyes today is whether or not the University of Iowa is aware of situations near and on campus, and if they are in fact looking out for the safety of all of their students. “A 19-year-old University of Iowa student from suburban Naperville was severely beaten over the weekend, and his family said the incident was racially motivated. Freshman Marcus Owens required nearly a dozen stitches to his lip, sustained a damaged eye socket and had his front teeth knocked out. He was released from the hospital Monday night. The incident, which his family calls a hate crime, occurred Saturday night after Marcus Owens left an off-campus pub across the Iowa River from campus. As he was texting a friend, three white men yelled the n-word and began punching him.” (abc7chicago. Com)
The Department of Public Safety released a crime alert on Wednesday May 4, 2016 at 12:17 p.m. Five days after an incident is an outrageous amount of time to wait to be notified of a violent crime to a fellow Hawkeye. So outrageous that most students heard about the crime from ABC Chicago before the University. Even the University of Iowa heard about the crime from ABC Chicago.
The University of Iowa then tweeted out a report on the incident just this morning at 11:40 a.m. In this report as well as in the Crime Alert, it states that, “On Saturday, April 30 between the hours of 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. the victim was in the alleyway of the 200 block of Iowa Avenue when he was approached by an individual and subsequently struck.” Yet students are only finding out about this days later. So our question is, where was our Hawk Alert? According to the description of on hawkalert.uiowa.edu, “The Hawk Alert System is used to notify the campus community of threats to physical safety in emergency situations.” Physical assault without a doubt falls into the “threats to physical safety in emergency situations” category.
What happened on Saturday night was unacceptable, and we as students have the right to be informed immediately. This is not the only incident that has occurred where the University has failed to inform its students of potential danger. According to the University of Iowa Police Activity Log, there have been countless crimes on campus that the University didn’t inform us about. From Assault in Rienow Hall on May 1, Assault in Burge Hall on April 30, Sexual Abuse (3rd degree) in Petersen Hall on April 22, Lost/Missing Adult in Slater Hall on April 22 and countless suspicious person/activity reports just in the last two weeks. (http://police.uiowa.edu/files/police.uiowa.edu/files/activity.pdf)
“The fact that the University of Iowa is not following their mission statement in regards to the safety and well-being of their students is not only scary, but wrong, and leaves me with a lack of trust towards the authoritative figures, students should be able to look up to and count on for their basic human rights and needs. It’s scary stuff, and it needs to be addressed.” Lily Goodman, University of Iowa Student.
#ExplainIowa why you are failing to follow through with the promise of notifying students of threats? #ExplainIowa why we as students have to find out about crimes to our fellow Hawkeyes from other sources than the university that promised to look out for our safety? #ExplainIowa why crimes happening in the dorms don’t warrant a Hawk Alert? #ExplainIowa why it takes a hashtag and outrage to get you to listen to your students? #ExplainIowa what it takes to make a change in the Hawk Alert system?
This is not a time to sit idly by Hawkeyes. It is time to take a stand.