The Iona campus was rife with debate last week due to lingering concerns about a security incident on Oct. 29.

That evening, Iona security was notified of a suspicious person on campus.

The student who reported the incident said he was followed onto campus by a suspicious black male, mentioning that he may have been armed, according to the Campus Safety & Security Alert email sent out on Oct. 30.

Concerned about any possible danger, the student then entered East Hall and explained the situation to his resident assistant.

Other students later reported that they witnessed the suspect leaving campus shortly after, according to the same email.

Resident assistant and junior Fred Carter notified the security staff after the concerned students approached him. Security officers then talked to the residents and referred the matter to the New Rochelle Police Department.

The incident began around 8:25 p.m., according to Carter.

However, notifications were not sent out to the Iona community until a few hours later, which was the main issue of contention surrounding the incident.

Many students first heard of the incident via text messages from friends and social media outlets such as Twitter.

The notifications from worried students caused many rumors to spread and led to general confusion and panic across campus.

There were rumors among students of buildings being on lockdown and people being evacuated.

Official notification from the college was sent out after administrators realized that the rumors regarding the incident became so widespread.

Vice Provost of Student Life Charlie Carlson said that the NRPD identified the suspect and that he presented no credible threat, so no immediate action or campus-wide notification was necessary.

The email and text message alerts were sent out to put concerns to rest because there were so many rumors circulating.

“We have an obligation to notify our students of incidents in a timely manner and provide them with accurate information,” said Carlson. “No buildings were locked down and no one was told to evacuate. If we felt there was a viable threat we would do anything to safeguard our students.”

The decision to prolong notification, or even notify students of the event at all, was made by Campus Safety and Security so that the facts of the situation could first be properly verified.

According to Carlson, campus security wanted to gather as much information as they could to assess the threat before making an announcement.

Students criticized this approach at the Oct. 31 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting.

The most common complaint was that notification should have been sent out immediately, especially in the case of a possible armed suspect on campus.

“I think they should’ve sent a text message out initially just to calm people down because you just have to assume that people are going to gossip about it, especially if it’s an armed person,” said sophomore Stephanie Stein. “You should just send out a text so people aren’t flipping out.”

This was a particularly controversial point, as Iona was criticized by students in the past for misuse of the text message alert system for sending out notifications of campus events.

Reminding students of this, SGA President Jaclyn Shearer said, “We don’t want the idea that we send a text out for everything, because people will begin to not pay attention. We’ve heard again and again that students don’t want a lot of texts being sent out and security does not want to cause unnecessary alarm.”

Other students advocated for a campus lockdown to go into effect in the case of such a serious threat.

“With any report of a weapon, whether confirmed or not, safety should be the first priority and certain measures should be in place, either a lockdown or movement restriction,” Carter said. “Implementing a lockdown is a very challenging decision but it should be safety first and fact-finding second.”

In response to the criticisms, Carlson said that he wants to assure students that their safety is of the utmost importance in any situation.

Iona security trains regularly with the NRPD for numerous scenarios including an active shooter on campus, and if anything of the sort were to occur they would be aware of how to effectively respond.

Any shortcomings in protocol are being considered by administration and security, including the need to improve the line of communication in emergency situations and the possibility of implementing programs such as active shooter preparedness trainings for Iona students and staff.

However, both Carlson and Shearer stress that the most important measure to take in such a situation is to be prepared.

“A lot of the fear lies in not knowing what to do,” Shearer said. “If you’re familiar with the process and know that process then you won’t have that fear and will know what to do to respond to the situation. Security does have a process in place it’s just a matter of the community being aware of the process and being informed.”

Carlson reminds students to err on the side of caution and always report any suspicious activity.

“Iona is unique with its sense of community,” said Carlson. “Everyone looks out for one another and those who see something and report it make Iona special.”

Students can better prepare for potential future incidents by reviewing the protocols listed in the Student Handbook.

Those who have any additional safety or security concerns should contact SGA President Jaclyn Shearer ([email protected]) or Vice Provost of Student Life Charlie Carlson ([email protected]).