Cal State Bakersfield hosted an open discussion Feb. 10 to address student concerns and gather feedback following the recent campus lockdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Antonio Reyes, current Associated Students, Inc. president opened the forum by sharing his experience during the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was worried, and I didn\u2019t feel safe,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cThere was a time when we didn\u2019t know anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr. Dwayne Cantrell, vice president for Student Affairs and Strategic Enrollment Management, said campus police responded within minutes of receiving the threat. He expressed gratitude that the situation did not escalate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police acted fast. They arrived at the field in a matter of minutes,\u201d Cantrell said. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful it was only a threat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cantrell acknowledged, however, that communication was an issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing we failed at was communication,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are working on it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eric Lord, director of the CSUB Counseling Center, reminded students that support services are available for anyone affected by the lockdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you need help and want to talk about what happened Monday, you can go to the Counseling Center,\u201d Lord said. \u201cAnd not just about Monday \u2014 if you need help in another area as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Student feedback collected during the forum reflected widespread anxiety. Many reported feeling irritable, insecure, and frustrated by what they described as a lack of timely communication. Others said they were confused by campus protocols and feared for their friends and family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I received the message that the campus was in lockdown, I was paralyzed,\u201d said Gracie Curiel, a junior computer science major. \u201cI was afraid to go to campus, but I knew I had to get back for orchestra rehearsal. Since I wasn\u2019t sure what to do, I stayed there for almost two hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Curiel added that the building she was in did not have windows overlooking the main area, which increased her uncertainty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cantrell said the university is working to improve its emergency notification system, acknowledging that not all students received the Alert message.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that not all students were able to receive the Alert message, but we are working on it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
University officials said improving communication remains a priority moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal State Bakersfield hosted an open discussion Feb. 10 to address student concerns and gather feedback following the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-183521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}