Open Post to Peer Reviewers

Pasted below is the "rough cut" of my essay about the UA Alert system. I simply pasted it below because I originally wrote it in a word document and didn't want to create a google docs... sorry.

Key information: I have not yet added the sources to my essay, so that is still to come. I do have a lot of sources I have just yet to find the correct place to add each one, that is why they are not in yet, I wanted to focus on the main content first. Also, it is still a rough cut, some paragraphs are definitely too short and more stuff will be added, but like I said, it's a rough cut.

Strengths: I feel as though I have a lot of good information so far in this essay because of my personal experience with the topic. I also feel as though I'm conveying the information in an interesting way that will make my audience want to continue to read it.

Weaknesses: Some of the sentences sound too casual I feel, for a college essay. And my lack of sources, but I already mentioned that. Any advice on this would be very helpful.

Rough Cut:

The Problem with UA Alerts

            UA Alerts. We’ve all heard of them. We’ve all been frustrated with them. But they haven’t always been unhelpful. They used to inform students about issues happening on or around campus. So what’s the deal lately? These alerts aren’t doing what they should be.

            UA Alerts first took to the scene of the U of A campus back in 2007. Taken directly from the UA Alert FAQ site, UA Alerts “will” inform students and staff about violent activity, hazards, and major disruptions to university activity. These categories include things such as an active shooter, an immediate threat to the UA community, including off-campus events, power outages, gas leaks, etc. Sounds simple enough. Except these are not the alerts we are receiving. The only alerts students and staff have received during the 2015-2016 school year were as follows: power outages and a gas leak.

            Here are some things the UA Alerts have not reported on that have happened this year: sexual assaults, a shooting right across the street from campus, robberies at knife point. Not a single UA Alert was sent out about any of these things. In my opinion, as well as the majority of UA students, those alerts are far more important than a power outage. Technically these alerts are “reported” on the UA main website under the Crime Alerts tab. However, this tab does not alert anyone about anything. I did not even know that tab existed until I was doing more research last semester about the unhelpful UA Alerts.

            Although students have attempted to take steps to fix these alerts, not much progress has been made. Some of the things students have done to try and bring attention to these alerts are writing articles in the U of A newspaper, the Daily Wildcat. These articles talk about different issues that have not been reported on as well as reasons why the alerts should be reformed. Personally, on February 22, 2016 I emailed the president of the university, Ann Hart, with concerns about these alerts. The response I got back was from Chris Sigurdson, who is an assistant of President Hart that apparently works directly with UAPD. His response to me was less than satisfactory and quite concerning in relation to what the faculty perceives about the alerts. I then again responded with more concerns relating to the UA Alerts to which I got no response. This was very concerning to me that a member of the U of A staff working closely with the president of the university simply disregarded a student’s concerns.

However, the efforts made by me as well as other students here at the U of A proved to be somewhat successful. Three “alerts” were sent out via email to students involving a robbery, a BB gun shooting, and a sexual assault. While I, as well as my peers, are very pleased to have received these alerts, they were still not UA Alerts. Meaning, they were not sent out via text like the UA Alerts are supposed to be. Another concern I have is that these alerts are also sent out four or five hours after the fact, that is not helpful to students because they could be traveling to the area where these crimes took place unknowing of the danger possibly there. So although the alert system in place here at U of A is improving, there is definitely still more work to do. Why aren’t these alerts being sent out through the UA Alert system? That doesn’t make sense to me or my peers.

It is extremely important for more students (and faculty) to gain a voice about this issue because it pertains directly to the safety of anyone on and/or around campus. Yes, there are “alerts” of some sort, but not what we signed up for. These alerts still have a lot of reforming to do before they can accurately provide the best student safety possible.