After a false alarm at Western Kentucky University, a Ball State University official said its emergency communications are ready should a dangerous situation arise on campus.
Western Kentucky was locked down for several hours Wednesday after reports of gunmen at the Bowling Green, Ky., school, but officials said they could find no evidence that shots had been fired or that anyone had a weapon.
Someone reported seeing people with weapons in a building on a satellite campus, and police later received reports that shots had been fired on the main campus, a mile away.
Western Kentucky officials said they received three 911 calls from students. The last caller reported hearing shots.
But Howard Bailey, Western Kentucky vice president for student affairs, said at a news conference that there was no gunfire and no witnesses reported seeing weapons.
Bailey said five male students were being questioned in connection with two fights, one on the satellite campus and the other near Pearce Ford Tower residence hall on the main campus, about an hour north of Nashville, Tenn.
He said the fights were related to an incident Saturday at a school-sponsored dance organized by a group called Black Men at Western. Bailey said no one from the group, which mentors black students, was involved in the fights.
"That student organization has a good reputation," he said.
Blake Graham, Ball State junior criminal justice major and president of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, said the scare at Western Kentucky showed that dangerous situations could happen anywhere.
He said college administrators try to make judgments in the best interest of their students, but he expected to see more incidents involving gunmen on college campuses in the future.
He said allowing people to exercise their Second Amendment right would deter people looking to do harm.
"If they keep banning people from carrying their concealed weapons," Graham said, "it's going to invite tragedy."
He said he wished administrators would be more proactive rather than reactive with the issue, he said, but he thought it would take a tragedy for things to change.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications at Ball State, said the rule banning students carrying guns on campus was created more than 20 years ago.
He said the only people he knew of that believed students should be allowed to carry weapons on campus was Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. The university became aware of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus in April, Proudfoot said, and no formal proposals have been made.
Shortly before 2 p.m. EDT, Western Kentucky administration sent a text message warning students to seek shelter after the reports of shots in or near Pearce Ford Tower. The campus emergency warning system was activated and students and employees were told to remain indoors. An "all clear" was issued about two hours later after police searched buildings and didn't find any threats. Classes were canceled for the rest of Wednesday.
Bailey said one student suffered minor injuries trying to break up a fight on the satellite campus. The student, who wasn't identified, was treated and released Wednesday.
Bailey said campus officials didn't regret sending a message that shots had been fired.
"We would rather be telling you we didn't have near the problem we thought we did," he said.
Proudfoot said Ball State's emergency text message alert system worked as planned in the first comprehensive test of the system earlier this month. He said people began getting messages within 4 1/2 minutes of the beginning of the simulation.
Proudfoot said the decision to send an emergency text alert and what information to include comes from the commanding officer of Ball State Police Department at the time of the emergency.
Text alertsTo receive emergency text alerts go to bsu.edu/currentstudents and look under wireless services
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