“A stabbing occurred at 334 Michigan Ave.  in the City of East Lansing, off campus.”

So parents jolted out of bed and their tired stupor, instantly concerned about their babies who might be out at 3 a.m. Sunday after a big football game the night before.

“The area has been secured, but please avoid the area. The victim received non-life threatening injuries and the weapon was recovered. The suspect is not in custody.”

A War of the Worlds-like panic swept through students, parents, faculty, and others attached to the university’s emergency alert system.

But it wasn’t really an emergency — at least not one that required nearly 70,000 notifications to go out via phone call, text and email.

In line with federal laws that require immediate notification of situations that put the university community at risk, MSU police were not intending to shock and confuse. The stark reality of campus shootings and other violence gaining prevalence nationwide warrants precaution from institutions like MSU.

On social media and in comments on initial news reports of the incident, members of the MSU community were fervent. Tweets and posts both condemned and praised the alert system. Some were mad the notifications didn’t come sooner, others thought they were entirely unnecessary. A handful appreciated the heads up.

As the stabbing was a fairly benign event in terms of affecting the entire student body, maybe the alerts were slightly alarmist. But, hey, at least we know the system works.

If a more serious situation ever makes it onto Michigan Avenue, Hagadorn Road, or any corner of campus, we’ll be familiar with that automated voice. We’ll expect a text notification or look out for the email blasts, and maybe that will put us out of harm’s way. 

Merinda Valley is the opinion editor at The State News. Reach her at opinion@statenews.com.