As a student here at UWG, I’ve never felt any fear pertaining to school shootings. I’ve had so much sympathy for those who have gone through it, and on Friday, that sympathy hit much closer to home. If you were anywhere near the University of West Georgia’s Ingram Library on Friday night, August 29, you probably remember the buzz of alerts lighting up phones, whispers spreading across campus, and the heavy police presence that followed. Reports said a man with a gun had been spotted near the library.
For a few tense hours, students and staff braced themselves for the worst. But later that night, the “all clear” came through: there was no shooter. It was a false alarm, another case of what’s known as swatting.
If you’ve never heard the term, swatting is when someone makes a fake emergency call (like reporting a shooter) to trigger a massive law enforcement response. It’s not a prank, it’s dangerous, traumatizing, and illegal. Unfortunately, UWG wasn’t alone that night. Both the University of Georgia in Athens and Clark Atlanta University got hit with similar hoaxes, all within hours of each other.
Think about that for a second three different Georgia campuses, all targeted on the same night. Students were left shaken, some hiding in dorms, others locked down in campus buildings. Even though it wasn’t real, the fear definitely was.
What makes this so frustrating is how it chips away at our sense of safety. College should be about late night study sessions, cheering at games, or hanging out with friends not constantly worrying about whether the next alert is real or not. The fact that bad actors out there think it’s funny or entertaining to create this kind of chaos is disturbing.
The good news? Swatting is being taken seriously, and people behind these calls can face some serious consequences.
At the end of the day, Friday night was a reminder of how fast things can change on campus and how important it is to stay alert when those emergency notifications come through. Thankfully, no one was hurt this time. But it also shows why campus safety drills, communication systems, and community awareness matter more than ever.
So here’s hoping we don’t see another night like that anytime soon.
