A new bill in Congress aims to require that U.S. colleges and universities inform campus residents of an emergency within 30 minutes. Backers argue it could save lives, but critics say it could cause more problems.
The â??Virginia Tech Victims Campus Emergency Response Policy and Notification Actâ? mandates that schools notify students within half an hour of a confirmed emergency. Its introduction comes about a year after the Virginia Tech massacre, where officials didnâ??t alert the entire campus of a shooting in a residence hall for nearly two hours. By that time, the gunman had started a second shooting spree, killing a total of 32 people before taking his own life.