UAPD discusses the possibility of a new campus alert

By: Madyson Deaton

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The University Police are considering adding trigger warnings to be sent out with campus safety alerts for students at the University of Arkansas.

UAPD offers two levels of warnings and safety notifications for all students and faculty. An emergency notification provides caution for students that an event is happening at that exact moment. Examples of this notification could potentially be about weather, active shooters, attacks, or kidnappings.

The second warning is called a timely warning. Receiving this alert would mean that a crime happened on campus property in the past, but potentially could happen again.

These two types of warnings exist for students and faculty to be consistently alert on campus and make the best safety decisions when on or off campus.

Last week, UAPD sent out a safety notification and received three responses from students that trigger warnings should be included for students who may have a reaction to what the notification covers.

“We haven’t heard of that before, but we are now discussing if we want to include that or what is the language that we will include on these messages,” Captain Gary Crain said. “We want everyone to be aware of what they are about to read in case it potentially has impact on somebody. We would like to reduce or alleviate that, so they are aware beforehand.”

According to Crain, there are different thoughts over the term “trigger warnings.” Some believe that the term itself causes a trigger for some individuals and won’t help or support the situation. While others are in good terms with the addition and believe that it will benefit the community.

These discussions and decisions are still ongoing for UAPD.