On Aug. 21, the Villanova community received a NovaAlert at 4:34 p.m., alerting those on campus to an “active shooter.” At the same time the alert came through, the University was celebrating the annual welcome Mass, at which new students and their families look toward the next four years and celebrate the last of their time together before families depart, an already emotional event for many. However, that emotion quickly shifted from feelings of bittersweet hope to pure panic. Once that alert came through, people began running for their lives, with some screaming that shots were being fired. Many describe how the sound of folding chairs collapsing was confused with gunshots during this time of mass hysteria. What should have been a defining moment of welcome instead became one of fear, leaving a stain on what is meant to be a joyful Villanova tradition. And for those who were there, the trauma and lasting effects were real and should not be dismissed.
My brother, a first-year, had just moved in the day before, so he and the rest of my family were at the Mass. I had to work, so I missed move-in and planned to see him later that weekend. When the alert came, I panicked and started calling and texting until I reached my mom, who told me they’d been separated. As each described the buildings they were in, I tried to guide them with what little I knew about the alleged shooter’s location. I began to realize while speaking to them that the buildings I had class in, places I had eaten dinner in so many times and rooms where I had met my friends, were now becoming bunkers for my loved ones to hide from a potential threat. Even now, those images linger and many who were there echo this sentiment. While everyone finally got the all-clear and the notification that it was all a hoax about an hour and a half after the initial alert, the effects of that agonizing time are still very real. To dismiss the incident as “just a hoax” ignores the genuine terror felt by students, families and faculty during those long 90 minutes.
While the event was traumatic for everyone, Orientation counselors faced an especially difficult challenge. They were responsible for guiding a group of new students they had only just met, while also coping with the fear of seeing the campus they had worked so hard to make feel like home suddenly terrorized. Expecting them to carry the weight of new students’ safety while processing their own fear was an extremely heavy burden that deserves more recognition.
“It seemed like a lot of the upperclassmen were having maybe even a harder time than some of the new students that had not really been on campus,” junior Kate MacLaughlin, an Orientation counselor, said. “I feel like that’s because, you know, this place has been our home for a while.”
After the swatting incident, there seemed to be an urgency to reinstate a sense of normalcy on campus. This sense is validated; it was the Class of 2029’s first full day on campus. A sense of frenzy, panic and fear are not the overwhelming feelings Villanova hopes to instill in first-years during their first moments on campus. Despite this, though, initial communication efforts seemed to cause more confusion. Sending a hasty email calling people to convene on the campus green moments after bunkering down from an active shooter caused even more anxiety, as they began to question the authenticity of University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D. messaging. The University’s communication failures that day deepened mistrust at a moment when clarity and reassurance were most needed.
“The emails that came at the end of it, people were definitely weary because it wasn’t through NOVAlert,” senior Tess Chiarello, an Orientation steering leader, said. “I understood why people were concerned about that, but I also know NOVAAlert, and I know things go wrong. But even I was a little worried at first when I got that email, thinking, ‘What if this is fake?’ But as they continued to confirm it, I felt much safer about that. But I can understand why families and parents who aren’t used to how everything works here wouldn’t have wanted to go outside because that’s not the way you expect to get that information.”
Looking at this swatting incident, especially from an outsider perspective, it is easy for many to brush off the emotional trauma those involved experienced. While it “wasn’t real” in the end, the lockdown was. People may be taking their cues from the fact that the University proceeded as normal. This wasn’t wrong. Some people crave togetherness, especially in times like these. However, it is important to remember that everyone processes things differently. There is no one set way for the University, students or faculty to respond. The guiding factor, though, as an Augustinian University, should be compassion. Villanovans have a responsibility not only to move forward but also to acknowledge the lingering pain of those most affected.
When talking about how the swatting incident impacted her and the way in which the University responded, Chiarello wished Villanova had been more “proactive about letting professors know orientation counselors were dealing with this and hadn’t really had time to process.”
“What wasn’t great was a lot of people had professors who weren’t being super respectful about the situation,” Chiarello said. “Dean DeMarco stepped in and made sure professors were aware that comments made about the swatting needed to be made with grace, reenacting barricading and making comments or jokes about that isn’t appropriate. A lot of people weren’t on campus and aren’t aware of who is an [Orientation counselor] and who is not.”
Unitas, veritas and caritas are the values that guide Villanova University and have been instilled in all of its community members. Especially when responding to situations like this, these values should guide the decisions we make and how we treat others. Those who brush it off as a hoax do not understand that for nearly two hours, everyone on campus was fearing for their lives. Extend grace to those who were here and let compassion guide decisions. While it’s easy to move on from such horror, and that’s how some may process, the effects are lingering. This is something that has deeply affected many in our community, whether we want to acknowledge that or not. When a community is broken, we must rely on our shared values, instilled in us, to uplift those who may feel weakened. Healing is only possible if we take this experience seriously and choose to let compassion, not dismissal, shape our path forward.
