Reflecting on Oklahoma Christian’s tornado trial

On the morning of Nov. 4, students woke up to messages alerting them of a tornado heading toward campus. Emergency sheltering measures were immediately issued to ensure safety if the tornado hit campus. 

This rare early morning tornado in November provided students and staff a chance to experience the emergency plan and evaluate its success. 

Campus police chief Greg Giltner explained how the evacuation was executed.

“John Hermes, Neil Arter and myself are the ones that kind of watch the weather. So about 6:13 that morning, we got involved in a three way text because storm sirens were going off,” Giltner said. “The decision was made at that point, safety first, to go ahead and do the OC notify and get all the students alerted. There was no circulation at that time, but there was a good chance that circulation would be forming soon.”

Giltner said the Prince Engineering Center (PEC) and the Davisson American Heritage Building (DAH) were left unlocked for ease of access in a potential emergency. He said campus police drove around to make sure everyone arrived at sheltered areas safely. 

Although administrators were able to follow protocol, some students were disillusioned with the execution.

“The tornado sirens went off at about 6:30 a.m., but I was up a little bit beforehand, so I was able to get out pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when I arrived at PEC, there seemed to be a lack of organization and information,” Senior Abigail Balleweg said. “The sirens stopped going off, and we were left in the dark as to what was happening. The building was also extremely crowded and overflowing with people, and I couldn’t help but worry about what would happen if the building did collapse and we needed emergency rescue. Ultimately, it was all very uncoordinated.”

Sophomore Evangeline Golden shared a similar experience. 

“My first alarm was at 5:40 a.m., so I was sort of awake anyway. But then I wasn’t actually gonna get up because I’m Oklahoman, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just roll over and it’s fine.’ But then the alarms started going outside, and we got the Amber Alert on our phones. So we were like, we do have to get up,” Golden said. “My roommate got a call from the RD and she was like, ‘You have to gather everybody, and we’re supposed to shelter in the downstairs common areas.’ And then by the time I made it down to the downstairs common areas, there was nobody in there, and they were like, get your shoes on. We’re walking to the PEC.” 

Golden said PEC was full by the time she arrived. 

“They had already turned down a few people that were, like, going in there because also, you’re only supposed to shelter in the hallway. I was told that the building is built so that you shelter in the downstairs hallway, in between the classes. And if it collapses, it collapses around that hall. And so then we went just straight to the DAH and the whole audience classroom in the middle was full,” Golden said. “And then there were people in the common areas, and people who had cats and dogs or whatever were holding them. It was super crowded, and hot and gross in there.” 

Golden described the low morale in the room.

“It was very crowded, and only a few people seemed to care a lot about the tornado. It was mostly just exasperation that we were up that early and everyone was tired,” Golden said. “But it was really quick, like the turnaround between the time we actually got there and the time that the warning stopped being in effect didn’t feel very long.”  

Senior Annie Davis, assistant director of Tinius, shared her experience helping students find shelter.

“I woke up at 6:15 a.m. to a phone call, and it was the RD, and she was like, ‘Hey, we need to get everyone out of the building.’ I threw on a sweatshirt and ran. The RA’s were already kind of on it, they were getting people out of their dorm. And our course of action is usually take everyone to the west side bathrooms or the first floor quad bathrooms. So we were getting everyone settled in there,” Davis said. “Once we had done that, we heard the call that we had to go to the PEC. So we got everyone up and went to the PEC. And everyone was really great about it. Everyone had good attitudes.”

Davis said she and the other resident assistants knocked on all the doors to make sure everyone evacuated safely, including a handicapped student who was driven to the PEC.  

“Everyone got there safely. But yeah, lots of animals, lots of people in their PJs. A lot of people were barefoot, it was an adventure, for sure. It felt like the whole campus was in the PEC or DAH, which was kind of crazy,” Davis said. 

Giltner explained the shelter spaces were extra full with a few pets (which he said he did not mind) and other members of the community who know Oklahoma Christian is a safe place. 

Giltner said despite the added elements of the situation, the procedure went well.

“We only had one incident where a student had a seizure, and that student was dealt with immediately. Medical was on scene rapidly, and that student is perfectly fine,” Giltner said. “But one of the things that we asked for is, the PEC and DAH are going to be busy, it’s going to be packed. So we don’t really need to bring stuff with us, if you just make sure, we can get the students over there and just be patient. Typically, we know with the weather service that we have now, we have a pretty good time frame on when it’s coming. It’s just we don’t have these in November. That’s what’s unusual.”

Giltner emphasized the importance of student safety in emergency situations. 

“I know it’s a major inconvenience, but once again, I, as a chief, want to make sure that if Mr. and Mrs. Smith call wanting to check on their daughter because they’re in Missouri, I can let them know that we have them in a safe place,” Giltner said.