What were they thinking?!?!

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

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OpenCarry.org Press Release - February 26th, 2008
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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College Class Held Hostage by Crazed Administration
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On Friday, February 22nd, students in a history class in the Moore 
Building at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, NC, were 
startled when an armed man burst into the room, placed a gun to the 
professors head and held the entire class hostage.  The professor, 
Jingbin Wang, was terrified as were other students in the Moore Building 
who barricaded themselves into classrooms or tried to jump out of 
windows. (1)

Imagine the terror of parents and loved ones who received panicked cell 
phone calls from those who thought they might be facing death.  Other 
students were almost certainly contemplating how to stage a last-ditch, 
desperate group attack on the gunman.  Ultimately, the situation was 
resolved when the gunman abruptly announced that he was an undercover 
campus security officer who was participating in a preparedness drill.

Amazingly, the administration of ECSU had planned and executed a 
preparedness drill which involved kidnapping a professor and a classroom 
full of students while brandishing a firearm!  Neither the students nor 
the professor were aware of the drill.

The university administration points to an email alert that was sent 
literally only minutes before the attack.  They contend that the purpose 
of the test was to see how quickly an alert would pass by word of mouth 
from those students who had signed up for email alerts to those who had 
not.  The answer, by the way, is "Not quickly enough".

Regardless of the administration's thought process or reasons for the 
attack, these are not valid defenses to the crimes that were committed 
against those present in the Moore Building.  And yes, crimes were 
committed.  When you hold another person against their will at gunpoint, 
that is kidnapping.  You cannot simply later put the gun away and say "I 
was kidding.".  The same is true of placing a gun against a professor's 
head.  A teaching contract does not obligate an instructor to allow 
themselves to be terrorized at the whim of the university administration.

This entire episode placed the University, the state and the taxpayers 
in a position of immense liability.  Had students been injured trying to 
flee the building then ECSU would have been liable and had any of the 
students, instructors or employees present in the Moore Building decided 
to fight back, then any resulting injuries or deaths would also have 
placed the taxpayers of North Carolina in an actionable position. 

Clearly the fallout from this disastrous decision is far from over.  
Some students have reportedly sought, or are planning to seek, 
counseling for the trauma they suffered and at least one student has 
asked to meet with the administration to discuss their future college 
plans.


FOOTNOTES
---------------
1) Local College Causes Stir With Gunman Drill, WTKR News Channel 3, 
Feb. 25, 2008, available at http://www.wtkr.com/global/story.asp?s=7923804

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