So the threat is gone. The campus is no longer on lock down. In what has by far been the most confusing, frightening, curious, and downright scary day I’ve had on the Hill, we found out a few important lessons, even though there apparently wasn’t a shooter on campus (thank God). What has 22 October 2008 taught us?

1. The text message systems work. For the most part, anyway. Most people I’ve talked to got the messages, but a commenter on my last blog did not, nor did my roommate or his girlfriend. So we’ll need to check on that. But for the most part, the emergency alert system seemed to work. I got the first text message at 12:29 and the second at 12:47.

2. Even with possible gunfire on campus, I still feel guilty about skipping class.

3. When everyone on campus tries to use their mobile phones at once, it overloads the system and thus nobody gets to use their phones.

You know, I’ve been fielding calls all day, like most of you out there probably have. Friends, family, acquaintances and even a few enemies have contacted me to make sure I’m okay. Thankfully I hadn’t left for campus before the texts came, so I wasn’t under lock down.

Instead, I had set up something akin to command central in my living room, with my laptop and television turned to media outlets and my phone on my ear almost constantly. Watching CNN and Fox News cover campus was surreal, and knowing that something could be happening was terrifying. The first person I checked on was a lovely ex-boyfriend of mine, who wasn’t even in Bowling Green, followed by my roommate, a good friend and then finally called my grandmother to let her know I was fine before she turned on her own television and had a heart attack.

I was contacted by alumni (including Jeanne, who popped bubble gum through the entire damn phone call), parents, and a myriad of people who I hadn’t spoken to in ages. It’s funny how they all crawl out of the woodwork when tragedy may strike. But nice, too.

But as I was saying, I was camped out in my living room with my laptop, phone, cable news networks and stuffed moose all afternoon long. I wrote a blog, panicked a bit, laughed at some funny Facebook statuses, and prayed. I prayed a lot. But I also cringed and got angry while reading the message boards over at the Herald. Here’s why: before we even knew that the suspects were black, somebody was assuming they were because it was at PFT, which they said was full of nothing but “ghetto” people and “thugs” and that this is what WKU gets for putting a “chicken shop” down there.

Now of course, “ghetto” and “thug” are rife with racial connotations, and “chicken shop” is a reference to a very negative but popular stereotype of black Americans. I won’t repost some of the other nasty remarks made over there, but suffice to say racism was running amok on the Herald boards. It was disgusting. And nobody seemed to recall that the Virginia Tech killer was Asian American or that the majority of mass murderers and spree killers are white.

Something else that disgusted me was actually something that had happened after Virginia Tech, and that’s that the Concealed Carry on Campus used a tragedy (or in this case possible tragedy) to advance their political agenda. It disgusts me. My own personal opinion is that guns have no place on a college campus, but I have always been respectful of the Concealed Carry people voicing their opinions, even if I just rolled my eyes at their commentaries and propaganda. But you know, using a tragedy for political advantage is just low, I don’t care how you cut it.

Anyway, I’m going to hop off here. Expect a blog soon on upcoming SGA events, one about football attendance, a couple next week about Homecoming, and probably one or two about some policies.

As for SGA’s response to today’s events? I’ll write something on that when we know more. Right now it’s just too early to say anything. I didn’t even make it to campus today, haven’t met with other SGA leaders (including President Boles, who will hopefully craft a message for me to post on here soon), so I don’t know what we will be discussing. But I can assure you that this will be a topic hot on the lips of SGA – and, I bet, the majority of students – in the days to come.

Glad everyone is safe, glad that local law enforcement handled this so well, and glad that this day is over.

x. Skylar