<p>I am the mother of a Pitt grad student, and I’ve been aware of the bomb threats from the start.</p>
<p>First, I want to say that Pitt MUST evacuate all targeted buildings and send EMS alerts to the entire community as a precaution. Could you imagine if these hoax bomb threats resulted in even one explosion? I’m quite sure Pitt would be found negligent if they stopped taking the threats seriously.</p>
<p>Next, the EMS system needs to be campus-wide because the university cannot be certain who is where at any given time. Also, neighboring buildings could be affected. My daughter’s lab overlooks the Western Psychiatric Clinic, and when she and the others in the lab received the lock-down message following the shooting, they immediately followed the instructions. They discovered only later that the two buildings are connected by the parking garage. Although you can say that the shooting is a different situation, the authorities cannot be certain of safety until a building is cleared. If my child were in one of those targeted buildings, I would be livid if they let her stay in the building. Just because there are many threats, it doesn’t mean that the university should lower its safety standards. Each threat should be treated separately and with equal weight, no matter how many similar threats precede it.</p>
<p>Yes, my daughter is both rattled and exhausted by the threats – and she lives off-campus. But she is adapting precisely because the university, the FBI, and the police take each threat seriously enough to ensure that the students and staff are safe. She would be an emotional mess if she knew bomb threats were continuing but not where and when.</p>
<p>I applaud the Pitt community for supporting one another and for showing strength in the face of terroristic threats. I just hope they catch the person responsible.</p>