Last month, the University community experienced two shelter-in-place orders within one week. As the year progresses and spring break is exchanged for stressful final exams, I find myself reflecting on the broader factors at play in the reactions of students and faculty during these emergencies.
On Tuesday, February 25th, at 9:06 AM, the University of Virginia released its first alert, warning students to avoid the area of Alderman Road due to police activity. Nearly a dozen subsequent emails and text messages urged students to shelter in place, citing imminent danger.
In the initial moments after the alerts, in jarring juxtaposition, I observed students continuing their bustles to class. Even as the emergency unfolded, students seemed to worry more about an absence from class than the possibility of danger during their commute.
Soon, posts poured onto Yik Yak, a popular anonymous social media platform that groups students by school. One user commented, “When there’s a shelter in place, helicopters, and sirens, [UVA students] still don’t want to miss class.” Another user said that their professor administered an exam during the lockdown, and yet another said that their professor continued to teach. These three users noticed an apparent issue with student and faculty reactions to the shelter-in-place order—reactions that favored academics over safety and wellbeing.
In the end, after nearly five hours of sheltering in place, the University lifted the order without finding the suspect, 19-year-old Nyeem R. Hill. With no reported injuries, the event was arguably peacefully de-escalated.
Just two days later, on Thursday, February 27th, at 4:49 PM, the University sent an alert warning students and faculty of an active attacker on Grounds. This second shelter-in-place order garnered much of the same—if not a less serious—reaction as the first. As a personal example, during Thursday’s lockdown, I was in a discussion class where the teaching assistant continued their lecture. The classroom door remained open for the first 5-10 minutes of the shelter-in-place, with nobody concerned enough to close or lock the door. This time, in less than one hour, the assailant was apprehended, the sheltering order was lifted, and life on Grounds returned to “normal.”
Perhaps the unserious response to the second shelter-in-place order had something to do with the availability heuristic, a psychological phenomenon that causes people to make decisions based on easily recallable information. In this case, the peaceful de-escalation of Tuesday’s shelter-in-place order made students feel unreasonably secure during the second shelter-in-place order, possibly causing them to deprioritize safety further. Regardless of the salience of this second order, the reactions to both were less urgent than they should have been.
Logic says these shelter-in-place orders should have had a large impact on the student body as the fragility of the University to outside threats was revealed twice in succession. These threats had real, though short-lived, consequences. As police and search dogs swept through buildings, a close friend of mine was stuck in the Cauthen mailroom, another in the Aquatics and Fitness Center’s basement, and a third surrounded by windows in Nau Hall. Not to mention, for upperclassmen and faculty who were on Grounds during the shooting of November 13th, 2022 that claimed three lives, these shelter-in-place orders brought back painful, traumatic memories.
I am sure many students were privately scared during these instances, but the reactions I observed were enough to concern me. Students seem to have quickly moved on from the week’s events. Just days after the emergencies on Grounds, Yik Yak users ceased mention of shelter-in-place orders, favoring jokes about midterms and spring break instead.
The cause of such nonchalant reactions can be debated, but it is clear that at least a subgroup of students thought first to prioritize their academics before ensuring their safety. To me, this is reason to worry about the effects of academically rigorous environments on university culture. This begs the question: Has UVA moved on too quickly, and did we ever truly take a break from our studies to realize the gravity of the events of February 25th and 27th?
I would say no, UVA has not realized the gravity of these instances because we are not conditioned to. As early as high school, students are encouraged to build their resumes in order to obtain acceptance to great schools that will maximize our post-graduation salaries. Once students arrive at university, this “work hard to play hard” mindset continues with a near-literal checklist to success. Step one: enroll in demanding classes; step two: apply to CIOs; step three: interview for summer internships; step four: wash, rinse, repeat…all while keeping a GPA above 3.5.
This “hustle culture” prepares students for the workforce, where many will enter fields that feature cushy salaries for the small price of their mental and physical well-being. In this cycle, we build near machines instead of students, prioritizing marketable skills over health. February’s emergencies simply pull back the curtain to reveal a culture hidden in plain sight.
That being said, it is not the fault of the students, the teaching assistants, or the professors that such a lifestyle encompasses them. Rather, they are victims of a system that has been perpetrated for many years. I wish that the shelter-in-place orders would have served as a catalyst to recognize and change a culture that deprioritizes safety and welfare in the name of academic success. It’s not too late, though, and shifting our priorities could change the culture around our studies, creating a university that is in tune with the well-being of its students.
The opinions expressed within this piece represent the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jefferson Independent.
So true! As you said, we unfortunately become so used to violence in our schools. That mixed with hustle culture is so harmful.
Great article!