Tornado Warnings: Too Much or Not Enough??

This morning, a text went out to half of campus, warning students of their imminent doom. "Seek shelter immediately," it read. Shrieks of terror ensued, followed by a panicked rush to the lowest level within close distance.

20 minutes later, nothing happened. Another text read "Tornado warning cancelled." The entire campus sighed collectively.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

But still, the tornado warning system seems to be a bit overblown. These warnings (often issued for storms in distant parts of the county) freak out much of campus for no real reason. I understand that safety is the main concern, but screaming "fire" seems a little unnecessary.

This being said, the text from Carl Loney came out a whole ten minutes after the tornado was reported. By this time, the entire Witt campus could have been in severe danger had a tornado actually come through in that time. Why wasn't the warning sent out closer to the report? When danger was actually a possibility?

Loney's email said that his information came from Channel 7, which lead me to believe that the Security Office does not use the National Weather Service as a resource. This seems almost like a game of telephone; the best way to get info is right from the source. Why doesn't Witt use technology like an Emergency Alert System (WUSO has one, for Christ's sake)? Strange.

I have no real opinion on whether the weather alert system is too much or too little. I'm positive students have opposite opinions, so I'm leaving it up to you! Get at me with those responses.

Scheduling... it sucks

Maybe I chose an "Easy Major." Maybe I need to add another minor. Maybe I just did too much planning ahead. Whatever it is, I seem to have a giant, gaping space between finishing my major and graduating.

I'm a communication major, journalism minor. Both of these programs are suffering from huge growing pains. Last semester, I was shut out of almost every COMM class I needed to take... as a junior! This time around, I managed to pick up my two remaining COMM courses.

Journalism has a total of 6 availible credits next semester: one is the half-semester Making News course, the other is Beginning Journalism. I've taken both of these courses.

Now I'm not exactly worried about not being able to finish my major or minor. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've already completed journalism. It would be nice, however, to gain a little more experience in the field of journalism (when was the last time Feature Writing or Opinion Writing were availible?).

So for now, I'll sit back and maybe pick up a few Sociology classes. They're about the only mildly interesting thing I can find right now... any suggestions are welcomed with open arms.