On Sunday, April 18th, 2021, a campus-wide alert was sent out that an individual was in the vicinity of Kohl and Carillon, next to my dorm, Centennial. It was shocking when it became apparent that the nationwide epidemic that is gun violence could very easily grace our doorsteps. The alerts and subsequent updates given to students by campus alert systems gave many of us peace in knowing when, where, and how that situation was handled. 

Today, on April 20th, 2021, we received something disturbingly opposite compared to the former response. There was information spread in the late afternoon that two middle aged white men were walking around BGSU campus both armed with assault rifles. The first notifications of this I received was a phone call from my parent, and then a mass email from a professor. 

I was prompted to draft this petition after receiving an abysmal mass email sent out to the University from Rodney Rogers, the president. The following quotes are just a few from that email. 

"BGSU Police monitored their activity while on campus to ensure there was no physical threat, and our officers engaged both individuals in a conversation and understanding of the law."

This passage admits that while police knew about the men, not a single thing was done to notify students or the community about their presence, threat or not. Some may argue that if students were notified, they may have escalated tensions with the men, which is a fair assessment. When protests for racial justice and anti hate-speech occurred in the early Fall, it was established well in advance that there were going to be peaceful, oratory protests outside of the admissions building. It went off without a hitch. What I saw today appeared to be two guerilla-clad men brandishing assault rifles looking for trouble, without a single warning. To me, that is a non-verbal threat of violence to passing students, students in surrounding buildings, any and everybody in or near campus. Firearms, especially assault rifles, are to be used when they're necessary, not all willy-nilly, whenever they feel like it just because it's legal to. They brought assault rifles into a public University - a place guns of this type have no business being in. Would you not fear for your life seeing armed men in your High School; your place of learning? Why should BGSU, or ANY Uni be different?

"While concealing a firearm on campus is a violation of our policy and Ohio Revised Code, today's activity involving open carry is not unlawful." 

He claims they did not break the law. Per Ohio law, that may be the case. However, I fail to understand how these men are any less guilty of inciting panic than the pistol wielding weenie a few days prior. I fail to understand why there is a loophole that citizens unaffiliated with the Uni are allowed to carry on campus, but faculty, students, and anybody but security force is not. This puts students in danger as they are HIGHLY vulnerable in this position.

I graduated from a High School that was a gun free zone, as many are. Our local police department kept an officer on site as our designated security force - it was established that nobody but him was to have a firearm on campus. If a random person with an assault rifle walks into that High School, would Officer Doe allow the man to exercise his "freedom of speech" even though the lives of students are within the chances of a coin flip in danger? No. So why did our police officers and higher ups allow two armed men, not fully aware of their true intentions, meander right into campus, in front of living quarters, dining halls, and the Union? Ever thought of not letting them in to begin with for the safety sake of students, and giving them the chance to comply with "no" before acting upon lawful orders as needed? Who in their RIGHT MIND allowed this to happen? 

You allowed this supposed "demonstration of rights" or "freedom of speech" to actually infringe upon my, as well as every other student's rights to an education. I now apparently can't walk outside without the expectation of finding somebody lugging around a gun, while I'm simply headed to class. I do not need to walk out of my dorm to be met with two men carrying assault rifles, not knowing at ALL what they're there to do. When did this become acceptable? After the University's utter failure of a response, it has now given other wannabe "demonstrators" the validity of bringing a firearm onto campus, making it all the more dangerous for EVERYONE. 

They have the right to own these firearms. They have the right to discuss openly their views and beliefs regarding the second amendment. These men DO NOT have the right to walk onto a gun-free, public campus FULL OF STUDENTS displaying firearms as a means of intimidation, first or second amendment. Campus police failing to do anything about it beforehand just goes to show that their intimidation tactics worked. 

BGSU is a community staple to Bowling Green. It's one of the reasons the town is so large and populated. I live in the dorm the first photo I saw was taken from. Depending on what image of the men you may have seen, the very railing that I occasionally lock my bike up on is in the photo. I remember last semester walking through the row of bushes to the left of the men to get to my bike. The English building behind them - I had weekly class there in Fall of '20. How do I go back to Centennial without that image being burned in my brain, knowing I could've easily been seconds from being a victim? This University, a place of peace and education, the place I wanted to call home, has been violated by a form of domestic terrorism, a nonverbal threat of violence through a display of force and those at the top seem to be okay with it. Why are we waiting for bullets to fly before fixing the gaps in the system that allowed individuals like these to passively hold campus hostage? 

"In navigating this situation, we fell short in communicating with our community. As president, I am ultimately responsible, and I regret we did not communicate with you directly ahead of this activity."

Atrociously short. Rodney, you yourself said it. You are ultimately responsible. In the end of the year, anxiously nearing exams and already heightened tensions after a different firearm related incident, the littlest amount of communication would've gone the farthest distance. Instead, we received nothing until it was no longer important. Why were students left to wonder what in the world was going on? Why were parents, in and out of state, not given any information whatsoever? Why did they have to go through the few hours worth of disparaging thoughts of their children likely being in danger? By that time, what if students were shot dead, and the men who did it were rolled out the red carpet by campus police from the start? How did the incongruences of an "A + C = E" type situation pass the judgement of whomever failed to initiate communication with students and parents? 

Why did I learn about two armed men on campus from my immediate peers instead of the campus or its alert system? When I will be providing thousands of dollars in tuition, housing, and security for the next few years, and I can't even insure I'll be alive on campus for that long, it makes me seriously reconsider how safe I truly am on campus if this sort of "demonstration" is permitted. If my first year saw a response as poorly executed as this, how can us students not expect somebody to fumble the response to a real emergency? Why wouldn't I be safer at UT or any other university when I know the superiors I trust to protect me at BGSU validate people roaming the campus freely carrying guns, and continue to let them do it? Why did I call police and was told there was absolutely nothing they could do about two armed men waltzing around campus like they owned the place? That just gives the impression that my life holds little value to those playing puppet master at the top. 

You are entrusted to protect us. You may feel that this situation was not worth causing a row over by sending out another alert. In reality, leaving students in the dark caused more of a panic than pistol-boy on 4/18 ever did. Today, on 4/20, you failed to notify the BGSU community that even if we were not in harms way, that those men were not there to do harm. In a country of daily mass shootings, many of which happen with assault rifles, WE DO NOT KNOW THAT. We don't spend thousands of dollars for classes and tuition just to be left in the dark by the ones we ALSO give money to and trust to protect us the most while going about our day on campus. When people one day get killed, the community won't get by with an "oops, sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" from the University head. 

I've held respect for our President and the actions he has made in the school year thus far. I respect the First and Second Amendments and the rights of the people to hold them. Regardless, the actions we have seen today were a grave violation of that very trust we put in our University, and it will NOT occur a second time. This was a bridge too far for me as well as many others. Do our administrators have a death wish, allowing mediums of death like this to parade around campus? It seems as if it will take somebody dying for our leaders to make change upon their word.

I call for those responsible in the lapse of security and communication with students and parents, whether it be the BGPD Chief (or whom may be applicable, if you've got the basic human dignity to acknowledge your duty to either do your job or resign) as well as Rodney Rogers to step down immediately, OR ALTERNATIVELY CHANGE POLICY TO PROHIBIT FIREARMS POSSESSION ON CAMPUS BY ANYONE OTHER THAN SECURITY, INCLUDING STUDENT AND UNAFFILIATED CIVILIAN, MAKING IT A PROSECUTABLE CRIME. You owe it to the safety and mental wellbeing of your students that was compromised under your watch. In future incidents, the slightest inkling of incompetence at the top will inadvertently lead to students (or so called "unaffiliated" citizens) being harmed during something similar or worse than this if you do not heed this request. Do as such, or let someone who knows how to communicate about a volatile situation and knows what they're doing take over. 

Until I as a student no longer fear for my safety on Campus, I will not stay quiet. 

Godspeed.