Wake Alert
I was supposed to be on PTO today, so had a pre-posted Daily Deac ready to go, but woke up early to see Wake Alert messages, so wanted to redirect the blog accordingly.
By now, families of current students (P’22-25) should have received an update from me about the events of early morning. You can read the full message here, but I will hit a few highlights:
Early this morning, the University received anonymous phone calls with shooting-related threats. An emergency shelter-in-place message was sent while University Police and Winston-Salem Police investigated the threat.
At 5 a.m., an all-clear message was shared as the call was determined to be a hoax.
An update was sent to the campus community this morning indicating it is safe for students, faculty and staff to resume regular activities, and that classes will be held on a normal, in-person schedule. All student services will be open. The update also indicated avenues of personal support should your Deacs need it.
Local law enforcement are working with federal and state officials to identify the callers who made the threats.
Out of an abundance of caution, University Police will staff and close the gates to campus over the weekend. Winston-Salem Police have increased patrols on campus and in the surrounding area.
In the midst of an emergency, our primary concern is always to get our students the information they need to stay safe. We shared the campus update message with families too, as part of our commitment to transparency.
I do not have any additional detail beyond what was shared in our message. What I can tell you is that there was a robust group of administrators working on this at dark-thirty this morning as part of our crisis management team, and campus safety is the highest priority.
As is our practice, calls or emails we get about this situation are being logged and shared with the appropriate parties on campus. You can probably imagine this is a very busy time, so I cannot promise individual replies – but know we are ensuring the right people see your feedback or questions.
May you all have an easy and peaceful weekend.