The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
www.OUDaily.com
Free — additional copies 25¢
CAMPUS SAFETY | UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SHOOTING ENDS IN SUICIDE
OU ready for emergencies, spokesman says Phone calls, text messages, e-mails sent within a minute of attack to protect students DHARA SHETH The Oklahoma Daily
JAY JANNER/AP
Students gather on the University of Texas campus in after a shooting Tuesday in Austin, Texas. A gunman opened fire Tuesday on campus and then fatally shot himself in the library, UT police said.
Gunman opens fire on Texas campus; kills himself in library No other injuries reported after armed student leads police on cross-campus chase NOLAN HICKS The Daily Texan
The UT campus was on lockd ow n f o r n e a r l y f o u r h o u r s Tuesday after a shooting incident that ended when the gunman, armed with an AK-47 rifle, took his own life after unleashing a barrage of bullets and being cornered by police on the sixth floor of the Perry-Casteñeda Library. Campus administrators identified the gunman as UT mathematics sophomore Colton Tooley. A half-dozen law enforcement
agencies, including the Austin Police Department, University Police Department, Department of Public Safety and the Austin Independent School District Police Department, responded to the shooting and its aftermath. Officials said no other students were injured during the shooting and that a couple of students were mildly hurt during the evacuation process. “I am grateful to our campus community for the way it responded to the emergency that took place at the Perry-Castañeda Librar y [Tuesday] morning,”
Colton Tooley
SEE GUNMAN PAGE 2
If an on-campus emergency were to happen, OU’s communication system is prepared to notify students as soon as possible, according to Chris Shilling, university spokesman. In light of any on-campus emergency, students, faculty and staff should call 911, which will notify OUPD. OUPD then triggers the emergency response system, which alerts students, faculty and staff of the emergency. Blackboard ConnectEd, OU’s emergency system, was installed around the time of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. It has multiple data centers around the U.S. so even if a disaster like a fire or tornado affects OU’s communication abilities, another off-campus data center anywhere in the nation can send out texts, calls and e-mails to ensure the safety of OU’s students, said Nick Key, OU Information Technology spokesman. “We exhaust all communication strategies possible,” said Shilling. Text messages are usually sent out within a minute of system activation, while phone calls often take 10-20 minutes, Key said.
The system has the ability to detect whether a live person answers or if a voicemail is being left and will call numbers that do not answer a second time. “E-mail is a secondary form of communication in cases of emergencies,” Key said. Not only do e-mails take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to send out, the general population does not check their e-mail nearly as frequently as their phones, Key said. Students can log onto their account at account.ou.edu and update their emergency information. The system allows students to enter up to six phone numbers, one text messaging number and one e-mail address. On campus, loud speake r s a re s e t u p o n b o t h the Norman and Health Sciences Center campuses that allow officials to communicate with every person on campus and direct people to safe areas or inform them about areas to avoid or provide any other precautionary information, Shilling said. Few parts of the Norman campus do not yet have these speakers, but in time they will be fully installed. “ This system is being implemented as we speak,” Shilling said. Layers of communication SEE RESPONSE PAGE 2
A timeline of the incident Tuesday at the University of Texas at Austin UT sent a first warning text message about shooter
8:23 a.m.
Colton Tooley, UT sophomore, identified by Travis County Medical Examiner as the gunman
UT President Bill Powers sent a mass e-mail notifying students that campus was on lockdown
10 a.m.
2:50 p.m.
8 a.m.
9:25 a.m.
11 a.m.
4 p.m.
An armed suspect entered Perry-Castañeda Library and shot himself after firing random shots throughout the UT-Austin campus
The Daily Texan updated its Twitter account with information about the on-campus gunman
Shauna Mennis, UT senior, told The Oklahoma Daily that buildings were being evacuated while inspected
Police reopened all roads closed during shooting incident
Student Congress approves October as GLBT month Resolution passed asking students to yell ‘home of the brave’ at end of National Anthem KATHLEEN EVANS The Oklahoma Daily
The UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress approved a resolution recognizing October as GLBT History Month in the city of Norman. Congress passed this resolution for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Month, originally written by the Norman City Council, with unanimous consent and no debate. “I wrote to the city council telling them I was doing this tonight [proposing this resolution],” said representative Shayna Daitch. “I heard back from Tom Kovach and Mayor Cindy
Rosenthal, and they are very excited we are doing this resolution.” The resolution does not detail any actions, laws or any political messages but is just a ceremonial gesture, Daitch said. Congress also unanimously approved members of the student Parking Appeals Board, which makes decisions on student appeals. However, it did not vote to change the board to a court and to expand the number of judges because they are currently looking into the student code and if that action would be in line with the code, Congress Chairman Brett Stidham said. For now, there are six members on the student Parking Appeals Board, which are grouped into two teams of three.
A LOOK AT WHAT’S NEW AT Visit the multimedia section to watch video of ROTC’s Red River Run take-off
In response to media attention before the Sept. 17 football game against the Air Force Academy, Congress voted unanimously to pass a resolution asking students to say “home of the brave” at the end of the National Anthem. “There are numerous opportunities to express Sooner pride,” coauthor Forrest Bennett said. “In fact, students can express pride every moment of every quarter and all night beforehand and afterward. This is one moment to unite as Americans and say ‘home of the brave.’” Bennett said he did recognize that Americans have freedom of speech and can say what they choose and that OU is also home to many international students, who he does not direct this toward.
THE OKLAHOMA DAILY VOL. 96, NO. 30 © 2010 OU Publications Board www.facebook.com/OUDaily www.twitter.com/OUDaily
MARCIN RUTKOWSKI/THE DAILY
After being introduced by UOSA President Franz Zenteno, newly appointed election chairwoman Natalie Jester addresses Student Congress during Tuesday’s meeting in Adams Hall.
INDEX Campus .............. 2 Classifieds .......... 8 Life & Arts ........... 5 Opinion .............. 4 Sports ................ 9
TODAY’S WEATHER 83°| 61° Thursday: Mostly sunny, high of 82 degrees Visit the Oklahoma Weather Lab at owl.ou.edu