Letter: A vague safety alert left us in the dark

I am writing to urge the president and provost of Kent State University to provide a public explanation of their decision-making concerning the social media threat on March 7, 2022, as well as a public apology to the Kent State community for their severe mishandling of the situation.

At 2:47 p.m., faculty received text alerts that stated: “A social media post has not been substantiated. We have increased police presence. If you have knowledge contact KSU police.” No other information about the content of the post or the reason for the increased police presence was provided. All we were left to assume was that some threat of some nature had been made against the KSU community and that it required an increased police presence on campus, but somehow did not require the cancellation of classes or the sharing of more details with the KSU community.