***UPDATE***

Thursday’s Claremore Progress [I'd supply a link, but the dinosaurs at the Progress are reporting Tuesday's news in the paper editions Thursday with the online report to come at some unforeseen time in the future. It's the revenue, not the news, that matters!] reports the incident on the front page. The official story is that the lockdown was merely precautionary and that there was never a threat. I, for one, think the concept of a precautionary lockdown with no threat is stupid and a waste of time, not to mention potentially dangerous as it is, in a sense, crying, “Wolf!” Additionally, if some of the other details I have been told (and am attempting to confirm) are true, I don’t really buy the notion that there wasn’t a threat.

The Progress does report that a student was taken in for mental evaluation. Again, if what I have heard is true, he needed it. Stay with the WynnBlog for further updates.

***[Original Post Below]***

The WynnBlog began to receive reports today that Rogers State University was placed on “lockdown” Tuesday, due to some unspecified threat. Upon further investigation, I am now in receipt of a memo that was issued by RSU President Joe Wiley this afternoon. It was reportedly emailed to RSU faculty, staff, and students as a Microsoft Word document attachment. The document meta data indicates that it was prepared by Rhonda Peeples, long Wiley’s secretary, today at 4:24 PM.

Just a couple observations. First, it seems that a “threat” severe enough to lock down a state university campus–if that did indeed happen–should have been addressed by the university sooner than two days hence, and in a public manner rather than in just an email to the RSU “community.” I would submit that in Claremore, the whole town is the RSU community. There seems to have been an effort to keep faculty, staff, students, and the community at large in the dark as to the incident until well after whatever imminent “threat” was addressed. Further, there is no mention of this incident or Wiley’s memo on the RSU website. I considered emailing RSU’s Director of Public Relations, Brent Ortolani, for comment but he refused to acknowledge receipt of or reply to a previous attempt for comment, so it would be an exercise in futility. I’ll just let some folks he might consider legitimate media ask the tough questions.

I ask that any individuals with specific information they can share come forward. Feel free to comment here. Your anonymity is guaranteed.

PS It’s the nit-picky English major in me that also notes the improper form of Wiley’s “memo.” Memoranda are properly not signed with a signature block like a letter. Rather, the memo author initials by hand near the “From:” block. Neither should a one-page memo bear a page number. Like I said, nit-picky grammar cop.

  • Share/Bookmark