Digital Chaos and Security Failures: What Brown University’s Shooting Reveals About Campus Safety

When gunfire erupted inside Brown University's Barus and Holley academic building, the Ivy League institution was plunged into chaos—captured not by official alerts, but through a torrent of raw, real-time messages from frightened students. Nearly fifteen minutes before the university issued its first warning, social media users flooded Sidechat, an anonymous campus messaging app, with fragmented updates that offered a troubling glimpse into a security system struggling to protect America’s youth. Why Did Students Learn of Danger from Social Media Before Official Alerts? The delay in official communication during a crisis reveals a disturbing trend that puts student safety at...