Sac State ENS fails

Sacramento State is generally a safe campus. So when something like Wednesday's officer-involved shooting occurs, you'd think the Emergency Notification System would be put to use.

A 23-year-old Sac State student was beaten so severely that he later died at the hospital. The suspect, 19-year-old Quran Jones, also a Sac State student, was shot by police after he lunged at them with a knife. At this time, they were believed to be roommates, according to an article from the Sacramento Bee.

The incident occurred in the American River Courtyard, which just opened this semester.

However, no ENS message was sent to the Sac State students who have signed up for the service in a timely manner, despite the degree of Wednesday's events.

The ENS was instituted shortly after, and because of, the April 16, 2007 on-campus shooting at Virgina Tech.

According to the Sac State ENS portion of its Web site, "Examples of such events would be a campus shooting, bomb threat, hazardous materials spill, flood or fire."

A campus shooting -- the first event listed, yet the system was not put into action for the first time until two hours after the episode.

The first notification came at 4:31 p.m. in the form of an e-mail to SacLink e-mail accounts -- an e-mail account which might not be checked regularly. It said the suspect had been removed from campus.

To my surprise, I did not receive a text message about the incident unitl 10:22 p.m. -- approximately eight hours after the altercation had reportedly started. The message was to inform people that the campus was safe.

The text message I received at 10:22 p.m. on Oct. 21

But what about the message informing students, faculty and staff about what had happened?

Sac State officials didn't want to cause a panic among students, but this situation could have, and should have, been handled a lot better.

Case and point: Students received an ENS message on Oct. 13, alerting them that classes were on, as scheduled, despite the weather and some minor flooding.

If the rain and minor flooding are enough to get an ENS message sent out, then why didn't an officer-involved shooting and a violent beating, which ultimately ended up in the death of a Sac State student, get the same, if not more, exposure?

I found out about the incident on Facebook.

Yes, I said, "Facebook."

Having to find out about something of this magnitude via Facebook and not through the ENS is absolutely unacceptable.

The ENS is a tool that should be utilized to its fullest capacity. However, it shouldn't be abused. In my nearly two semesters at Sac State, I have received maybe two or three ENS notifications before today. And nothing was ever as significant as Wednesday's events.

The ENS is in place for a reason. Here's hoping Sac State officials use better judgment next time when decided whether to, or not to, issue an alert.

Better yet, here's hoping there won't be a next time.

Students, faculty passionate at fee increase rally

A 95-degree day is enough to get anyone worked up.

A 95-degree day while rallying about rising student fees and professor pay cuts is enough to get everyone who attended worked up.

Roughly 200 students, professors and faculty showed up to protest the rising fees and slashing salaries outside the library at Sacramento State University.

The rally opened with a couple of protest songs from teachers and faculty signing protests songs as if they were protesting the Vietnam War. It is not quite that serious, but it is an issue worth fighting for, nonetheless.

This rally had a little bit of everything: TV cameras, singing, signs and slogans. The particular slogan of choice was, "They say cut back, we say FIGHT BACK!"

The California State University system raised fees twice from the end of the spring 2009 semester to the beginning of the 2009 fall semester – a span of three months. Tuition for the fall semester is $511 more than last semester. Not only did tuition increase, the quantity of education decreased – by about 10 percent.

Because of the state's money epidemic, teachers and faculty are forced into taking furlough days. Incidentally, furlough will be the buzz word of the year throughout the CSU system, if not the rest of the impoverished state. While some students may invite the extra days of no class, some are peeved about not getting enough instruction.

Paying more and getting less – not exactly an uncommon occurrence. One might expect that from a fancy-shmancy restaurant, but not something as important and essential as higher education.

It's no secret that California is broke, despite having the 10^th-largest economy in the world, according to the CIA World Factbook. In fact, California once had the fifth-largest economy in the world. State employees are taking furlough days as well, but why does it have to extend the education system?

Students pay good money for a college education and the rising fees make it more difficult for said students to get an education. With higher tuition fees come more student loans which results in more money out of our pockets in the long run.

But hey, no one cares about education in this country, right? Our education system is top notch compared to countries like Japan, the United Kingdom and Finland (which one of these is not like the other?). Or not.

The only way students and faculty can make a difference is by holding these rallies and the soon-to-come marches on the Capitol.

Is taxing oil companies, which are seeing record profits and have been for quite some time, the answer? Perhaps. It might not be feasible, but we all know the companies are not hurting for money. This was an option that was echoed many times throughout the rally.

Much like Mother Nature did to the attendees on that early September day, it is time to turn up the heat on the legislature and compel it to take money from another institution. Education is far too important to have multiple increases and to be furloughed.

Fight back!