SIUE Campus on Alert After Shootings: Recent Incidents Yield Zero-Tolerance Policy
By Elizabeth Donald, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Feb. 16–EDWARDSVILLE — Southern Illinois University Edwardsville police are on high alert for the next few days after the shootings at Northern Illinois University Thursday, and have arrested a student for bringing weapons on campus.
Calling the NIU shootings a “horrendous and inexplicable event,” SIUE Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift put the university police on alert and reminded the staff and students of the emergency plan for the campus.
“As I said after (Virginia Tech), how do we deal with the egregious contradiction that on a university campus, on ground that is designed, protected and held by society to be a place where human potential is fulfilled, that human potential should be destroyed in such a horrendous and precipitous act?” Vandegrift said in a message to faculty and staff.
“High alert” means police will have a more visible presence, SIUE spokesman Greg Conroy said. Officers will be on foot in the quad and other high-traffic areas. In part, it helps gives students a sense of protection, he said.
Meanwhile, student Stephen Vories, 22, of Glen Carbon, was charged Friday unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon. Police arrested Vories for questioning after his ROTC sergeant received a tip about allegedly disturbing information on Vories’ Facebook site, Conroy said. Police questioned and charged him with unlawful use in connection with bringing a taser to class in January. He did not use it, Conroy said, but it is a crime to have one on campus. Vories was charged with possession after police said they found in his car two spring-loaded BB guns and a knife with a blade longer than 3 inches, which are not permitted on state property. Vories posted $100 bail and has been released, Conroy said.
In July, 22-year-old Olutosin O. Oduwole was charged with attempting to make a threat against a university and storing a gun on campus after a note was found in the back seat of his car. Oduwole, who was serving as the president of the SIUE fraternity Iota Phi Theta at the time, has pleaded not guilty.
Last summer, the campus began developing a text-message emergency broadcast system , which is being tested. Registration of cell phones will begin March 3.
There is already an emergency e-mail system in place, and was activated in October when a student left his home with a gun. The alert later was downgraded, stating the student was a danger to himself, not others. SIUE also received six $2,000 radios from the state for its police officers to communicate with other departments in an emergency.
Contact reporter Elizabeth Donald at 345-7822, ext. 21 or edonald@bnd.com.
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