Dickinson State Handled School Lock Down Poorly

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Written By:
Rob Port

Feb 11, 2012
7:26am

Yesterday, in the midst of the release of a bombshell audit report, Dickinson State University went into lock down because one of the school’s deans who was assumed to be armed was missing.

A lock down in such a situation makes sense, but the manner in which the school went about it leaves something to be desired.

DSU President D.C. Coston told The Press that lives were in danger after informing students not to put anything on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

Coston had planned to meet with students at Beck Auditorium at 1 p.m. about the audit report that said DSU had awarded hundreds of degrees to foreign students who didn’t earn them, signed up students who couldn’t speak English and enrolled a handful without qualifying grades.

DSU had activated its emergency system and was working with the Dickinson Police Department to resolve the issue.

So, with an armed and distraught man in the area, the President of DSU dismissed the students walk all over the campus to their homes/dorms? And tried to violate their 1st amendment right to communicate on social media in the process?

I understand that yesterday was a trying day for the DSU administration, but clearly they need a better plan in place for this sort of thing, and ordering the students not to communicate should not be part of it.