2008 Woodie Awards
Recent tragedies prompt text alerts
Ryan Pierce
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Iowa City
On March 24 an Iowa City man killed his wife and four children in their home and then set out on the streets in a brown van. Intent on killing himself, Steven Sueppel crashed the van into a support structure on Interstate 80 west, just outside of town.
Students enrolled at the University of Iowa were alerted via text message of the incidents that unfolded, including some information that turned out to be inaccurate. With the recent school shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech as well as the gun threat at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Iowa passed on all the information they had in regard to the residential shooting in order to keep their students aware of the situation.
The Kirkwood Community College Iowa City campus currently has no such warning system and as a result many students were unaware of the unfolding events.
"I had no idea," explained KCC Accounting major Ryan Bentrim. "I didn't know that there was a murderer on the loose until someone in my first class mentioned it. At first I didn't believe it, but [the student] showed me the text message from the University [of Iowa] and I was shocked."
He added, "It seems like Kirkwood should have had something similar in place for such an event."
Kirkwood plans to implement a new emergency text message system later this spring. The new system will be called Kirkwood Alert and will provide information to all registered cell phone, PDA, Blackberry and e-mail users.
One student expressed understanding for implementing a system such as this for a college that has nine locations. "I know that there are a lot places that Kirkwood would have to keep tabs on," said Robert Hu, Liberal Arts major. "It just seems that there's a lot going on in schools these days, with shootings and violence and things, and it would be nice to get advanced warning about a possible situation."
He added, "Even though it seems like everything played itself out by the time I was on my way to school, when I found out about it all I felt very unsafe traveling to school on the side of town where all of the events were unfolding."
Characterized as "a man desperate to die" by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sueppel's murder-suicide raised several doubts about campus safety with some students.
"It's so easy to get into the Iowa City campus that if I'd have known about the situation before I got to class, I probably would have avoided the campus altogether," said Bentrim.
Students enrolled at the University of Iowa were alerted via text message of the incidents that unfolded, including some information that turned out to be inaccurate. With the recent school shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech as well as the gun threat at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Iowa passed on all the information they had in regard to the residential shooting in order to keep their students aware of the situation.
The Kirkwood Community College Iowa City campus currently has no such warning system and as a result many students were unaware of the unfolding events.
"I had no idea," explained KCC Accounting major Ryan Bentrim. "I didn't know that there was a murderer on the loose until someone in my first class mentioned it. At first I didn't believe it, but [the student] showed me the text message from the University [of Iowa] and I was shocked."
He added, "It seems like Kirkwood should have had something similar in place for such an event."
Kirkwood plans to implement a new emergency text message system later this spring. The new system will be called Kirkwood Alert and will provide information to all registered cell phone, PDA, Blackberry and e-mail users.
One student expressed understanding for implementing a system such as this for a college that has nine locations. "I know that there are a lot places that Kirkwood would have to keep tabs on," said Robert Hu, Liberal Arts major. "It just seems that there's a lot going on in schools these days, with shootings and violence and things, and it would be nice to get advanced warning about a possible situation."
He added, "Even though it seems like everything played itself out by the time I was on my way to school, when I found out about it all I felt very unsafe traveling to school on the side of town where all of the events were unfolding."
Characterized as "a man desperate to die" by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sueppel's murder-suicide raised several doubts about campus safety with some students.
"It's so easy to get into the Iowa City campus that if I'd have known about the situation before I got to class, I probably would have avoided the campus altogether," said Bentrim.
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