By Lauren Runkle, Contributing Writer
As any Susquehanna student may know, rumors circulated around campus, giving insight into occurrences that allegedly took place in late August and early September.
These ranged from a sex trafficking incident at the Selinsgrove Target (and Plant Fitness),to a Bucknell student nearly escaping abduction early in the morning on Sept. 5 to a man knocking on residence hall doors, asking students to buy cleaning supplies out of his trunk.
Although there were other incidents not covered in the post circulating around social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram, students were not so much focused on each individual case as they were with Public Safety and Student Life’s lack of emails about anything that had occured.
Hearing about these cases from a trusted source feels much more comfortable for students as opposed to a circulated post. While most of these cases may not seem important for our particular campus, the one that stuck out to me the most was the man approaching residence halls about cleaning supplies.
While the other ones have nothing to do with campus, this was on school property. Public Safety may have responded quickly to reports, but why not send out a warning to the campus community so everyone can keep an eye out? This would let students know of a potential threat and be more on-guard for a man that fits this description. Perhaps a student would have fallen for his lie and ended up being kidnapped, when this could have been prevented through a quick email.
Susquehanna’s Department of Public Safety has connections with Bucknell’s Public Safety and the Selinsgrove Borough Police Department, so the rumors from the area and the neighboring university would have been good to send an informational email about, for both a warning and to give students the facts of these cases from proper investigations.
While Student Life’s email with these facts was appreciated, it came after the student post was circulated and well after the occurences. Students want to feel safe when they return to campus, and with the university handling COVID-19 so well, issues like potential kidnapping are a more prevalent concern.
Student Life has started sending timely emails to inform students about Public Safety reports, so our only hope as students is to remain vigilant and hope that the word continues to be spread through informative sources rather than a social media post.
On Sept. 8, there was a gathering of students on Degenstein Lawn to discuss the issues that have taken place on and off campus. Vice President for Student Life Susan Lantz attended the gathering to listen to students give their input about the university addressing such matters. With representation from staff like this at such events we can only hope to see change and continue to protect each other in every way we can!
