It’s one of the first things you learn in Creative Writing 101: A loaded gun changes everything. Unless, of course, you go to Georgetown, where, evidently, that sort of thing is no big deal. Is anybody else outraged at the nonchalance recently displayed by Vice President for University Safety Rocco DelMonaco, the poorly named Office of University Safety and Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson? You ought to be. In case you haven’t heard (though I wouldn’t hold that against you, since the university took more than three hours after the incident to notify the student body), there was an arrest this past weekend after a student allegedly fired a gun in a McDonough Gymnasium restroom during Midnight Madness. The gun belonged to a U.S. Park Police officer, who somehow managed to lose track of it during the festivities. After a brief lockdown, the students at Midnight Madness were allowed to go on with their lives, not officially learning until the early hours of the morning that the gun had been recovered and an arrest had been made. Where do I even begin? I would demand that the police officer lose her gun (and her badge along with it), but she beat me to it. While I understand that everyone makes mistakes, the gun was not stowed in a holster when she lost it, but was instead in a purse left unattended. The unconscionable delay in informing the students of the incident, however, is the bigger issue. I may not have Homeland Security credentials like DelMonaco, and since this is Georgetown, there was likely inane “protocol” to follow, but I would expect that an institution that hands out graduate degrees in security studies would have more regard for its students’ physical and emotional well-being than to let them wait around for almost four hours before telling them that the threat had been eliminated. Not everyone agrees with me. Some of my friends tried to convince me that I was missing the point; that the university was trying to avoid widespread panic among the student body, many of whom were intoxicated as part of the weekend festivities. issing the point? Give me a break. That’s precisely the reason why we should have known sooner. Has anyone been to New Student Convocation recently? Do you have any idea how long it takes to get people in and out of McDonough? And that’s when most of them are sober. Thank goodness the only damage done (besides one student’s chances at a clean record) was to a toilet bowl. We could very easily have been mourning the loss of a number of students, either through gunshot wounds or stampeding. So how did university officials respond? They kept quiet for hours, because apparently nobody would think twice about why they were detained, or why they heard a gunshot. Nothing says, “Don’t panic” and discourages fearful speculation like secrecy and suspense. Nothing says, “We take security measures seriously” like waiting for a student-run newspaper to break the news and release an updated version of the article a full half-hour before the official university response is released. Do you really doubt we’ll put two and two together? But no, I’m missing the point, apparently, because Georgetown takes security very seriously. That’s why I was nearly written up last weekend because my oh-so-incredibly-dangerous Disney sing-along was too loud. That’s why I can’t find anybody to talk to about changing my locks when I can prove an unauthorized person has access to my room. That’s why my roommate’s girlfriend, who graduated a year ago, has access to buildings on campus that I don’t. It’s why we still haven’t caught the man (or men) referred to as the Georgetown Cuddler. But I’m missing the point. You know who didn’t miss the point? The Così employee who was knifed during an armed robbery on Sunday. The incident was reported at around 6:27 p.m. Guess when the e-mail was sent out? 10:47 p.m. During that time period, some criminal was possibly running around campus and we didn’t even know there was anyone to look out for. I don’t expect everything to run smoothly all the time, and I recognize that security and law enforcement entail more than just crime prevention. But I expect better from an institution like Georgetown, particularly when we play host to visiting dignitaries so often. I understand there are protocols to follow, privacy issues and legal concerns with ongoing investigations, et cetera. But I’m not asking for all the details. All I want to hear is, “This is what happened, but we nabbed the S.O.B. and the threat has been neutralized,” in a timely manner and from the horse’s mouth. To leave me and the rest of the university community in the dark is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Colin Nagle is a junior in the College. He can be reached at naglethehoya.com. Getting in Tune appears every other Friday. *To send a letter to the editor on a recent campus issue or Hoya story or a viewpoint on any topic, contact [opinionthehoya.com](opinionthehoya.com). Letters should not exceed 300 words, and viewpoints should be between 600 to 800 words.*