When history junior Mike Webber went to Wells Hall on Oct. 18 for the prescreening of “Dan in Real Life,” he didn’t think the movie’s previews would be interrupted by tornado sirens.
“When the sirens went off, everyone was quieted down and told to go to a different wing,” Webber said.
“People started moving, but only half of those people fit in the hallway. Students tried going back into (room) B-108, but we were told to stay out.”
Webber said he did not understand why students couldn’t go into the room, which is concrete and without windows.
Webber said the students were kept near glass windows for more than 10 minutes.
Because many students felt the same about the lack of organization during a serious situation, Webber, an ASMSU representative, decided to introduce a bill voicing students’ concerns.
ASMSU’s Student Assembly passed the bill to look further into the security procedures that are supposed to take effect in times of emergency, such as a tornado.
ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
“The bill was created to let the administration and students know that the (Student Assembly) is not OK with how this was dealt (with),” said Brad Gershel, an ASMSU representative who seconded Webber’s bill.
“Something needs to be done. This bill isn’t giving solutions – we are letting them know we aren’t happy and they need to come up with new ideas.”
Gershel also suggested a possible zoning system that could be set up for similar situations.
But according to Jessica Inman, UAB’s graduate intern who took charge of the situation, this system already exists.
As the sirens went off, Inman and Matt Mergener, UAB’s director of films, contacted MSU police about where to find emergency directions.
“They said the information is posted inside the classrooms,” Inman said. “The layout sheets indicate where the safety shelters are in the building.”
Mergener said they directed students out of the B wing and into the A and C wings, Wells Hall’s designated safe locations.
“Most students did a good job at moving to the proper safe areas,” he said. “But there were a few students that had to be encouraged more than others.”
The biggest concern for ASMSU’s Student Assembly Chairperson Michael Leahy is how this would have been dealt with if more people were involved at Wells Hall.
“If this happened in the middle of the day, who would have stepped up then?” he said.
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