On Monday, Nov. 28, Ohio State University student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, drove his car into a group of people at the university in Columbus and then proceeded to attack those around him with a butcher knife. 

He injured six people with his car, and another five with his butcher knife. He was shot within minutes of the initial attack by an Ohio State police officer.

According to Ashland University’s Director of Safety Dave McLaughlin, Ohio State handled the situation very well. He commended how quickly the university was able to notify the campus.

McLaughlin said AU and Ohio State have a very similar campus notification systems.

“We have what we call Eagle Alerts and it is basically the same thing as Buckeye Alerts,” McLaughlin said.

AU uses the e2Campus alert system to send all notifications across the campus in the case something were to happen. If something was to happen, McLaughlin said the first thing that would be done would be contacting 9-1-1 and alerting the campus of the situation.

“Communication is the most important thing” McLaughlin said. “It [campus message] would not be detailed but it would alert to everybody that there is an emergency and where the emergency is to the best of our ability.”

McLaughlin said at the initial news of an attacker, the information may be difficult to get out all at once and during the initial phase, so they would send out a series of eagle alerts and then would institute a lockdown depending on the circumstances.

He also mentioned how there is a constant check of the e2Campus alert system to make sure everything is constantly working in the case of an emergency.

Although AU’s safety services do a lot to keep students safe, McLaughlin also noted that students should be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

“I would recommend that anyone out there that sees something, and this goes back to ‘see something say something,’ call 9-1-1,” McLaughlin said.

 McLaughlin encourages all students, faculty, staff, and even parents of students to sign up for the alert system. The easiest way to sign up for e2Campus text system is through the AU website on the emergency information section at the bottom of the page and by clicking on the picture of a cell phone.