Last Monday night, a menacing post was made on 4chan threatening the safety of schools in the Austin area, including Texas State. 4chan is an online, anonymous bulletin board, where a supposed warning was posted before the horrific UCC shooting took place. The post warned students in the Austin area to stay home from school the following day, implying that a planned shooting was going to happen. The post spread like wildfire and students were voicing their fears on social media to Texas State police and Texas State administration. Texas State University Police Department found that the threats were not credible and classes were scheduled as normal Tuesday.
Students were outraged by this decision. Twitter and other social media outlets were filled with Texas State students speaking their mind on their disapproval of the university's choice to hold class. On Twitter, students used the hashtag #TXSTCancelClass in their tweets and tagged the police department and Texas State University in them as well. The general opinion of the student body seemed to be that they felt the university was risking their lives just to hold class.
As I was walking to class Tuesday morning, I have to admit, I was scared. I was angry. I was confused. I was scared for my life, angry that classes weren't canceled, and confused at what the world had turned into, but as I returned safely home, I thanked God and began to realize that Texas State UPD made the right call. I realized my desire for class to be cancelled was my own human nature to not want to sit through lecture, not the actual credibility of the threat. The post threatened Austin area schools, it wasn't specific towards Texas State. The university police department is in the business of keeping the students safe. They aren't out to hurt us or to force us into a dangerous situation.They investigated the threat and deemed it unreliable. If they backed down to this unreliable threat, it would just make our school an easy target for threats and it would become a common thing. I do not know all the procedures the UPD has to go through to get to their decision, but I know it was not a choice they made lightly.
Thank you Texas State UPD for not canceling class. Thank you for not backing down to terrorists. Thank you for having courage. Even though classes were not cancelled, we still had the choice of whether or not to go to campus, Texas State UPD did not. They are here to serve us and protect us and they deserve a thank you every once in awhile.
