Staff and students at Wilfrid Laurier University were told to stay away from campus last Friday as authorities combed the area surrounding the WLU science building for five hours before lifting lockdown at 11:30 am. The response, which included helicopters flying over the university, was prompted by an online threat in what is turning out to be a bizarrely international incident. It was the FBI which alerted WLU authorities after finding a message on an anonymous 4chan forum resembling that made by the gunman responsible for the Oregon community college which claimed nine lives on October 1. The information was passed on as more of a ‘Heads up’, as Supt. Pat Dietrich of the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) told media. Authorities have since arrested a 22-year-old man living in London, England in connection to the online threat.
For Waterloo students, many of whom may have received concerned messages from parents or noticed the heightened police presence, the threat may have seemed a little confusing. Especially since the majority of WLU students were enjoying a prolonged Thanksgiving break thanks to their fall reading week. The theory that a student may have called in a prank threat to get out of a scary exam was considerably less likely.
As a woman studying engineering the news of the threat immediately made me think of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre which took place in Montreal, Quebec. A 25 year old man shot 28 people, killing 14 women. Although it seems like campus shootings are increasingly common these days, at the time, the massacre, which focused on female engineering students because they were ‘feminists,’ shocked the world. Had this been a real threat, it is hard to say what the story might have been. Mental health issues and increased exposure to violent video games might have been brought up, as was the case for the Oregon shooter.
Undoubtedly university can be an enormously stressful time. Success in post-secondary school opens doors for life after school and failure is a very real possibility. To achieve that lofty goal of succeeding you must make it through a barrage of assignments, projects and exams. In addition, students may be wrestling with a sense of identity and belonging as they adapt to the university social sphere and living away from home. All these factors can combine to put students under incredible stress.
In this technological age, many people who feel isolated seek contact over online sites. Admittedly anonymous online communities allow people to vent their frustrations, however there is little framework available to help people when they are away from those online communities.
The types of content posted online can vary significantly and the tone of a message is not easily conveyed. (Like saying ‘bomb’ in an airport. It is not clear if you are jokingly saying ‘bomb’ or actually frantically shouting ‘BOMB’).
Authorities looking for threats online do not have a convenient tonal converter. In the case of the post which threatened the WLU science building, it gave the impression that the poster wanted to warn a select few not to go near the science building to ensure they wouldn’t get hurt. The message was eerily similar to that of the Oregon shooter and suggested some sort of large impact event. It is also a message which has been jokingly emulated for other less malevolent uses. What is concerning here is the anonymity of the Internet. Although in retrospect the person who posted the threat may very well have been referring to somewhere much closer to (his/her) home, it was nevertheless incumbent on local Waterloo authorities to react. Tracking down the person who posted the message was a joint effort on the part of WRPS, RCMP and the national cyber-crime unit.
Given the high price that could be paid if a legitimate threat went ignored, no one can blame WRPS’s speedy response. After all, as Supt. Dietrich said, “it is always better to err on the side of safety.” Next time you see someone who seems overwhelmed by school stresses or just a little left out of the crowd take a moment to say hello and let them know they aren’t alone. It’s a big world, but we can make our tiny part of it a safe and welcoming community.
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