September 11th, Southern University students were met with a lockdown on campus due to credible threats of violence to students. Due to the threats, campus was shutdown throughout the weekend. Paranoia filled the air as students were forced to hold their breath for the duration of the weekend. It was certainly no time to relax as during this time, students were met with a different “lockdown” as students were unable to connect to the university’s Wi-Fi leaving multiple students unable to access work assignments, internet, or even loved ones during the crushing time.
One student, Andrea Coleman, Junior, described the trouble they had contacting loved ones during the lockdown proclaiming “If anything happens on campus, [mom and dad] told me to always let them know…my mother and my father both called me, and it was hard because the Wi-Fi was out. I received about 4 more phone calls because of the Wi-Fi.” When asked whether or not Wi-Fi being unavailable during such a crucial time on campus was a safety concern, Andrea states, “It was a scary moment to be in without a reasonable resource to contact my parents in such a dark situation. If there was an active shooter, what if I never got to say bye to my mom and dad?”
A sentiment that many students not just on campus but in the country can empathize with. Another student, Brenae Seals, Sophomore, went into detail about how Southern should have fail-safes in the place for this vocalizing “Southern should have definitely had some type of alternative, or they should put something in place.
People [are already miles away from their homes, on top of getting emails saying to evacuate, asking them to shelter in place, whew, stressful.]!” Seals also went into detail about the reality some students face when incidents like this happen adding “Their data may not work, the satellites may not work, you know, so their Wi-Fi could be the only thing accessible. What if there was an actual danger? What [if the]Wi-Fi was the only thing that would have allowed them to say their last goodbye to their family members? Could have gotten them help, Could have saved their lives.” She left the conversation calling the situation overall a “major safety hazard” citing Southern’s lack of protection during the time. No official statement has been made by the IT department yet on the outage that spanned last weekend.
