Put to the Test: Colleges Grapple with Bomb Threats

     On September 14^th, 2012 University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University canceled classes and forced campus evacuation due to bomb threats by a caller claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda. By the afternoon, the bomb threats turned out to be a hoax. Ever since the Virginia Tech shooting, colleges have practiced being safe rather than sorry. To help enforce this mindset, the Clery Act now requires campuses to have an official emergency plan, including a procedure to immediately notify the campus community in the event of an emergency. Active shooter drills and test evacuations are now a typical part of college life. On the reverse, colleges now run the risk of their students taking warnings with less urgency. This article was written by Kayla Webley for Times Magazine. Webley graduated from the University of Washington and the Medill Graduate School of Journalism at Northwestern University and now covers the education section at Time. The context of this article that compels the author to communicate is the bomb threats at University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University. The author wants to show the new dangers now associated with daily college life. Consequently, this article’s purpose is to inform and educate the general public, specifically parents of prospective college students, about the dramatic rise in bomb threats and make them reconsider how safe a college campus really is. Parents send their kids to college looking for a safe haven; however, it seem they are putting their kids in even more danger. The two rhetorical elements used most frequently in this article are logos and pathos. The author is illustrating logos by using several facts, statistics, quotes, documents, and primary sources to back up her argument. Because of the logos, the pathos side of this article is enhanced. The author instills fear and angst within readers. In result, the author is hoping a fire will be kindled in parents to take action. I do think the author thoroughly accomplished her purpose. It made me think as to why parents are just sitting back and watching their children walk off to an environment filled with bomb threats. Overall, Webley did a great job of giving her audience a behind-the-scenes look at college life.