The 16 April 2007, 4:00 p.m. Press Conference

“Can you say why the students weren’t notified for two hours
 that there had been a shooting on campus?"[16]

            This question was a consistent presence in President Steger’s life following the shootings, and he often repeated his initial reply: “They were notified that there was a shooting.  You have to remember that, of the about 26,000 students that we have here, only 9,000 are on campus.  [W]hen classes start at 8:00 [a.m.], thousands of people are already in transit.  So, the question is, where do you keep them where it is most safe?  [W]e concluded first that the incident in the Ambler Johnston was domestic in nature.  In fact, we had some reason to think the shooter had left the campus . . . may have been leaving the state.  And this other event occurred two hours later." [17]

            This was followed by another oft-repeated question: “Well, the first blast e-mail didn’t arrive to the students until 9:26."[18] To this President Steger replied: “Well, that’s when we were able to confirm the call came in to the 911 center at 7:15.  I don’t know when the police got there.  It was five or 10 minutes later.  Then we interviewed witnesses to try to find out what was going on, and then decide what the best course of action was to do."[19]

            The media wanted to know why the campus was not closed.  President Steger replied: “Well, it’s very difficult, because we are an open society and an open campus.  And we have over 26,000 people here in hundreds of buildings." Differentiating between campus and buildings on campus, he later added, “Let me get back to your question about closing the campus.  When the shooting occurred at Ambler Johnston, that’s building was closed immediately."[20]

            When again asked about the lockdown policy, President Steger replied: “[O]bviously every situation you face is—is different.  [W]e . . .  have 9,000 students on campus and about 14,000 student off campus coming in.  [W]hat we try to determine is, are they most kept out of harm’s way by staying in the dorms or staying in the academic buildings.  And the latter was the decision this morning.  But with 11,000 people driving into campus, it’s extremely difficult, if not almost impossible, to get the word out instantaneously."[21]

            And again, later in the same press conference, another question and reply about the lockdown and communication with students: “But you had to remember," said President Steger, “that classes start at 8:00.  The call came into the 911 center at about 7:15.  We’ve got 14,000 people en route.  So the question is where do you lock them down?  The students are already—it takes 20 minutes to walk from some parts of campus to the classrooms.  So people are already in transit.  So the decision was. . . ."[22]

            At which point he was interrupted, “(UNINTELLIGIBLE) over the radio telling people not to come to class?  STEGER: Well, they’re not listening to radios as they’re walking across campus.  But. . ."[23]

            Again, an interruption, “QUESTION: . . . some kind of communication?  STEGER: Well, we did.  We had the sirens going off.  We sent out I-messages.  We sent out emails and we utilized a telephone tree.[24]

            This exchange was followed by yet another question about the time period between the first shooting and student notification: “Why did it take so long, then [to send the first email to all students]?"[25] Steger: “Well, the—one, again, the call came into 911 at 7:15.  You’ve got to have time for the police to get there.  Then you’ve got to—they were interviewing witnesses.  We were talking to figure out what we knew about what happened.  And then you have to make the decision about canceling classes and all of that.  So by the time you go through all of that, it takes a little time."[26]