Calissa Hagen
Reporter
You are sitting in your room doing some late night studying and you all of a sudden get an email, phone call, and text message. They all display the same message: “A dangerous incident has been reported in the area. Stay in Place. Seek safety indoors. Remain inside until further notice. Update to follow.”
Throughout the first three weeks of J-term, students at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) have received three notifications alerting us that we are to Stay in Place. Two of the incidents occurred in the Library Lot, and the other one involved Uni Teriyaki getting robbed. This increase in dangerous incidents near PLU has left many students worried, and PLU has announced that they are increasing security measures near the Library Lot. To read more about what PLU plans on doing you can go to plu.edu/PLUalert.
Some students have been left wondering what the difference is between a lockdown, which was announced earlier during fall semester when an armed individual was seen on campus, and a stay in place.
According to the PLU safety website “Stay in Place” is activated when an incident near campus creates the potential for a risk to campus. This measure involves all campus buildings going into card swipe access only.”
A “Lockdown” is activated when a violent incident is occurring on or immediately adjacent to campus. All buildings are locked and people are asked to secure themselves in a room inside a building and remain quiet.” Students are asked to lock their doors, turn their lights off, and close all windows. Lockdowns follow serious incidents, such as the presence of armed suspects on campus, while stay in place is more of a just-in-case measure that could turn into a lockdown if the incident becomes more serious.
