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Students express concerns about safety

Since the shooting incident that occurred early Saturday morning, student reactions have expressed concern about the lack of Seton Hall's actions and their current safety on and off campus.

Sophomore Eric Ramirez, who knew both Jessica Moore and Nakeisha Vanterpool, said he was at his house in South Orange the night of the shooting.

"I first found out about the shooting through text messages. I heard there was a shooting but I didn't know the details," Ramirez said. "When my friend came to the house in a mass panic because she was there, I knew that something happened. She had mud all over her back from getting stepped on."

Ramirez said he was shocked about the lack of immediate warning from Seton Hall's Pirate Alert system.

"We pay $47 thousand dollars a year for all these services, where the hell was the Pirate Alert system when this happened? Where was it when people were getting held up at gun point off campus as well as when people were getting mugged in the same vicinity?" Ramirez said. "An e-mail the next day doesn't cut it. It should be the University's responsibility to inform the student body when an issue arises immediately. Actually utilizing the Pirate Alert system, and I'm not talking about once a year when they test it, can help protect the student body the way it was designed for."

Ramirez said he had met Moore, who died from a gunshot wound to her head, in passing and used to joke around with her. "She was an honest good person and a sweetheart. It's really depressing to see her go," he said.

Sophomore Sabrina Browne said she felt the University handled the situation well by alerting students through e-mail and holding a prayer service for Moore the following day of the shooting.

"Whether you were close to Jess, at the party, on campus, or wherever, the service allowed you to be with your SHU Community and come together as one," Browne said about the prayer service.

However, Browne said she was shocked the University did not lock down during the shooting incident.

"A lot of people were in complete shock when they first heard about the shooting Friday night, and a safety alert would have surely confirmed that shooting actually occurred," Browne said.

"I thought they were going to close campus off, barricade or do something along those lines, because at the time the gunman was still on the loose. So it was a bit shocking to me that they didn't lock down campus."

Senior Lindsey Zavadilsaid she was surprised she did not find out about the shooting until the next morning.

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"I was just surprised that it was out on the news before we had gotten an e-mail about it or a safety alert," Zavadil said. "I feel like the situation could have been handled better as far as getting information to people faster."

Zavadil said she recently has taken more caution about going out at night.

"Normally I don't mind walking alone at night because I'm in such close proximity to everything." Zavadil said. However, Zavadil said she decided to not walk to a party this past weekend after hearing about the shooting.

Browne said even now after a few days have passed she also does not feel 100 percent safe.

"You're not going to feel 100 percent safe wherever you are, but the fact that a shooting just happened doesn't make it easier. I expect security measures to be taken that will continue to ensure the safety of me and my fellow classmates and the SHU Community on a whole," Browne said. "Seton Hall is in the middle of some really rough neighborhoods. Some places people don't even feel safe driving through, let alone walking."

Browne's also had complaints about how some professors handled the aftermath of the shooting.

"Some professors here at Seton Hall need to acknowledge the fact that the shooting happened. Take your heads out of your planners, syllabuses and textbooks and wake up. This is real life," Browne said. "There was a shooting last Friday night, and a student, named Jessica Ann Moore passed away. It's just appalling to me how some professors can just continue with class, hand out assignments and move on as if ‘that's it.'"

Carolyn Maso can be reached at carolyn.maso@student.shu.edu.


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