Drill disrupts students
Cancelled classes, confused students result of statewide tornado drill on campus
by Cassie Scarborough
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: News
"With the recent news of destruction at the Union University campus in Tennessee, I think students were understanding and realizing that efforts like these help to save peoples lives, says Drew Davis, dean of student affairs. "I think the news of tornados killing 55 people in surrounding states this week help our students to understand that this could happen on the Piedmont campus."
Piedmont conducted its first tornado drill of 2008 Friday morning. Davis says the statewide drill was part of the Georgia Emergency Management Plan, and all buildings on the Piedmont campus took part. There were ten minutes of a tornado watch then at 8:25 efforts were made to get all students, faculty, and staff to their designated areas as the watch changed to a warning. Despite the good intentions, many students at Piedmont were angered by the drill.
After past tornado drills were set at 6 a.m., it was a surprise to much of the student body that this year's drill did not begin until 8:30 a.m. while classes were being held. Students were informed by e-mails and flyers around campus. However, these emails and flyers only notified the boarders as to where they needed to report during the drill.
They didn't notify the professors as to where they needed to go or that there was even going to be a drill during their class time. Many professors even canceled their classes after being notified that the drill was taking place, due to the fact that they could not give out tests or quizzes that were planned that morning.
Bobby Fede, a joint-enrollment student who was in class at the time, says, "I thought this only happened in high school not college."
His class was told to exit Stewart Hall, go outside and into Daniel Hall where they would need to go down to Jenkins lobby. Many students thought that this was inappropriate because it would have been unsafe for up to 100 students and faculty to go outside into another building during a real tornado.
Female students at the Getman-Badcock dorm were told to go down to the bottom floor. However, their notification was done by a knock on their door, which many couldn't hear in the shower.
"I don't believe that it was very efficient, I was in the bathroom and didn't even hear them. In a real-life tornado crisis, I probably would have died," says freshmen Kim-Laura Schulte.
The other dorms on campus were also supposed to participate in the drill. However, Swanson Hall was never notified during the drill. Therefore none of its residents participated. Faculty in the new Swanson Center along with the maintenance staff didn't know where to go during the drill.
Several students questioned why Piedmont does no have alarms and why they weren't more prepared. They say that this probably would allow more people on campus to know what is going on and get the news out faster.
Piedmont conducted its first tornado drill of 2008 Friday morning. Davis says the statewide drill was part of the Georgia Emergency Management Plan, and all buildings on the Piedmont campus took part. There were ten minutes of a tornado watch then at 8:25 efforts were made to get all students, faculty, and staff to their designated areas as the watch changed to a warning. Despite the good intentions, many students at Piedmont were angered by the drill.
After past tornado drills were set at 6 a.m., it was a surprise to much of the student body that this year's drill did not begin until 8:30 a.m. while classes were being held. Students were informed by e-mails and flyers around campus. However, these emails and flyers only notified the boarders as to where they needed to report during the drill.
They didn't notify the professors as to where they needed to go or that there was even going to be a drill during their class time. Many professors even canceled their classes after being notified that the drill was taking place, due to the fact that they could not give out tests or quizzes that were planned that morning.
Bobby Fede, a joint-enrollment student who was in class at the time, says, "I thought this only happened in high school not college."
His class was told to exit Stewart Hall, go outside and into Daniel Hall where they would need to go down to Jenkins lobby. Many students thought that this was inappropriate because it would have been unsafe for up to 100 students and faculty to go outside into another building during a real tornado.
Female students at the Getman-Badcock dorm were told to go down to the bottom floor. However, their notification was done by a knock on their door, which many couldn't hear in the shower.
"I don't believe that it was very efficient, I was in the bathroom and didn't even hear them. In a real-life tornado crisis, I probably would have died," says freshmen Kim-Laura Schulte.
The other dorms on campus were also supposed to participate in the drill. However, Swanson Hall was never notified during the drill. Therefore none of its residents participated. Faculty in the new Swanson Center along with the maintenance staff didn't know where to go during the drill.
Several students questioned why Piedmont does no have alarms and why they weren't more prepared. They say that this probably would allow more people on campus to know what is going on and get the news out faster.
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