Parents, students give UNC emergency protocols a critical eye after shooting

As the campus community continues to grieve from a fatal shooting, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's lockdown and shelter-in-place policies are under the microscope.

Opinions differ between students and parents on how the lockdown procedures were handled Monday at UNC during the on-campus shooting.

One student told WRAL News his professor kept teaching as emergency sirens were going off and campus-wide alerts were being sent. Eventually, students disregarded him and went into hiding, turned off lights and locked doors.

Photos of students huddled up in dark dorm rooms and classrooms circulated on social media. Some were even seen jumping from a second-floor window.

However, two parents said the classrooms where their daughters were weren't locked, making it hard to execute a lockdown.

"She was in a lecture hall and they had no way to lock the doors," a parent named Teresa said. "I did feel like UNC did a great job in the situation, but there are things like that that definitely need to be taken care of. I just hope that they use this as a learning experience to see where they're lacking in their security."

Another parent said it's her understanding the door didn't even have locks.

"Some of the male students were piling furniture up at those doors," said parent Catherine McDowell.

Both parents said despite these shortcomings, there were positives to how UNC handled the situation.

Shao is a student who recently arrived in Chapel Hill from Malaysia. He said he was aware of shootings in America, but was taken aback to be this close to one.

"It is a pretty brutal welcome to America," he said.

The UNC policy on classroom door locks notes "faculty are encouraged to practice locking each door in their classrooms and to make a plan for locking doors quickly if necessary."

A professor said there's no accountability to ensure employees actually read the instructions. That's something the students hopes will change.

"There is protocol for a reason," Shao said. "And, I think the university should really do better to enforce it and to really train all faculty members to be ready for situations like this."

Elsewhere, hundreds of UNC students gathered in front of the South building, where the UNC Chapter of March for Our Lives organized the event to call for change to North Carolina's gun laws.

"It took me right back to just hiding under the desk with a whole bunch of my classmates," said freshman Danielle Kennedy, who experienced a lockdown while at Middle Creek High School in Apex. "For three hours, similar to here, we were just locked in our classrooms, left in the dark. Thankfully, someone had only brought in an airsoft gun, but it was still a traumatic experience to go through, believing that you were going to die."

Unity and reflection were also themes of the day. Students and colleagues also gathered at 1:02 p.m. at the Bell Tower as the bell rang in honor of professor Zijie Yan. A moment of silence was also held. On Wednesday night, a candlelit vigil was planned at the Smith Center.

Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, who was seen Wednesday at the Bell Tower, said the university has an action-preparedness plan for active shooter situations and the school is part of a national Run, Hide, Fight response program.

"We house about over about 9,000 students on our campus and they are prepared for these situations," Guskiewicz said. "So, we do everything possible, but we also learn from other campuses and colleges around the country who have had these tragic events. We'll continue to learn from this event as well."

UNC has established a hotline for concerned parents and community members. The number is 919-918-1999.