UTC Chancellor Steven Angle says the campus should have been put on lockdown Wednesday after reports that a man with a rifle was seen in the area.
A Chattanooga police officer walking to his house near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus after his shift, still in full uniform and with his rifle in hand, set off a flurry of panic and an hourslong search for a reportedly armed suspect Wednesday afternoon.
Though there was heavy law enforcement response, an evacuation, and subsequent search of Fletcher Hall, the campus was never put on lockdown, prompting confusion and alarm among students and community members.
“In retrospect, we should have locked down the campus when the report came in of a possible suspicious person in Fletcher Hall and [the] Chattanooga Police Department responded in force. We will review the decisions that were made and decide whether our assessment process is adequate,” Angle said in a statement Thursday. “While we are thankful that there was not a credible threat on our campus and our students were always safe, there is always an opportunity to assess our actions and consider potential changes to our procedures.”
The university left it to professors’ discretion whether or not they wanted to cancel classes, even during the active search, and many students said they wished they had received clearer information from the university.