Earlier this semester, University of Memphis officials were all but giddy over their new "safety features" on campus.
They fell over themselves setting up interviews and sending out press releases to show off the new features that would help continue to make this campus the "safest university in Tennessee."
And why shouldn't they? The U of M spent almost $60,000 on the outdoor emergency warning system, and who knows how much on the TigerText program.
They are all features that most on campus and off could agree that we needed.
But that honeymoon is now over. What remains is how vastly unused each system was after a University of Memphis student was murdered and robbed on campus.
Because U of M officials never bothered to send out TigerText alerts when a woman was attacked on campus and another woman was attacked off campus, officials found out last week when Taylor Bradford was murdered that there were several bugs in the system.
Some students cell providers' have the messages sent to a spam folder. Others are blocking it all together.
Not that it really mattered if you did get the text last week. What you most likely received was a message that said there is no class and to read the newspaper.
But at least the TigerText system was used.
The expensive advance outdoor warning system has yet to be turned on other than when it was tested.
In case you are not aware, there is a setting on the emergency system that can announce to students that there is a hostile intruder on campus.
And campus police can use the system to give a customized message as well.
But instead of this precaution, a decision was made to forgo that tool and instead use Dean of Students William Porter, who reportedly walked to the different dorms to inform students to stay inside.
Dean Porter is highly regarded on this campus for his love of students, but not even Porter could possibly hope to reach every single student on campus.
But even with all of the questions that have risen over how officials handled this tragic event, it's hard to blame anyone.
The murder of Bradford was a tragedy that no one thought would ever happen on this campus, and I imagine very few people were fully prepared for it.
But what we can blame our school administrators for is the spin effect taking place at every press conference this week.
I am so sick of this tragedy being spun in the best possible light officials can manage.
The only thing we are missing is a blanket statement from Raines saying that The U of M is still the "safest campus in Tennessee." Just to show you how much statistics like this mean, I would put a good deal of money on the fact that we are still the "safest" campus because that ranking is compiled by counting the number of incidents reported. One murder is equivalent to one car break-in.
What I am steamed about is statements from our school that Bradford's murder was a "targeted" act.
Does a targeted act require that students should be told less and later than an un-targeted attack? Should we be relieved that police say that a U of M student planned the crime?
But school officials are hesitant to broadcast this information over their new safety toys because they do not want to panic students.
They don't think we are adult enough to handle that information. They are afraid we will go back to our parents and tell them we are scared after a friend was shot just feet from where we live. They are scared that our parents will start to think twice before sending their other children to Memphis. And who could blame them?
But, you see, no matter how many times Raines says with firm conviction the murder was not a random act and no matter how many times Bruce Harber talks about surveillance cameras and text messages and emergency phones and bike patrols, we will always have those fears.
But even though no one can quiet that fear, our University officials can try to inform us to the best of their ability.
As a journalist, I've always enjoyed this quote by author Arnold Glaslow. I feel it is fitting here -"Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance."
