Follow-up to campus killing last April

This may only be of interest to akirlu, but the Seattle Times has an article today about the ongoing investigation following the murder-suicide on the University of Washington campus last April. This was a case of a psychotic ex-boyfriend killing a UW employee named Rebecca Griego after she'd gone to great lengths to protect herself from him.

The Dean of Nursing, Nancy Woods, echoed Ulrika's comments at the time in a letter to President Emmert last April: "Our faculty and staff were receiving calls and e-mails from across the country telling us more detail than was available in our own university community." That was certainly what I experienced. I received e-mail from my mom, who knew more about what was going on from watching CNN in California than I did sitting two blocks away from where the shooting occurred. Woods wrote, "The UW Web site was silent on the status of the campus: There was no definitive communication about risk to employees and students."

Far worse, however, was the breakdown in the system the UW had set up to help people in Rebecca Griego's situation. This system would have done more to protect her, including most importantly moving her office to a new building where the ex wouldn't know to find her, but the right people weren't notified, despite Griego's efforts. The pieces were all there, but they weren't put together. It's sickening to realize a simple breakdown in communication led to someone's death, but maybe the new procedures that have been put in place as a result will prevent a similar tragedy in the future. The article indicates that the number of calls from people who feel they are being stalked on campus have gone way up since the shooting.