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Florida:
Boca Raton — Florida Atlantic is set to begin its own medical school, after Gov. Crist
signed off on legislation authorizing its establishment. The university said students will
be taught in a smaller, interactive learning environment that introduces them to clinical
training in community-based hospitals early on. The inaugural class is to begin in fall
2011.
Miami Herald
FIU's emergency response to football player's fatal stabbing
criticized
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY
abeasley@miamiherald.com
More than 80 minutes after FIU football player Kendall Berry was stabbed to death on the
school's main campus, the university still had not formally notified its students of the attack --
and that Berry's killer remained on the loose.
This is according to former U.S. Attorney and current Dean of the FIU College of Law R.
Alexander Acosta, who recently submitted an exhaustive review of the school's emergency
response to the March 25 slaying.
No later than 9:03 p.m. that night, according to police and Acosta's accounts of the evening, FIU
student Quentin Wyche used an eight-inch pair of scissors to mortally wound Berry, a 22-year-
old third-year sophomore running back, with a single stab wound to the chest.
But the school did not send out audio and text messages alerting the student body of the attack
until 10:24 and 10:28 p.m., respectively -- far too slow of a response, according to FIU President
Mark B. Rosenberg, who sent a letter to members of the university community.
``You want that alert to come quickly, be factual, and you don't want the rumor mill to cause
undue panic,'' Acosta said. ``But you also don't want to get it out there before you've got the
facts. With an alert, when there's something going on on-campus, you want to take immediate
action because safety obviously comes first.''
Nearly an hour and a half after the stabbing, the school finally sent this message to cellphones
and had it read over the university's public address system: ``WE HAD A FELONIOUS
ASSAULT BY THE RECREATION CENTER SUSPECT AT LARGE TUNE INTO LOCAL
MEDIA FOR MORE.''
But by this time, Wyche had long fled the crime scene and word of the stabbing had already
circulated through much of the FIU community.
Furthermore, some 4,600 of the roughly 22,000 students, faculty and staff that registered for the
emergency text messages never received the alert.
Acosta's report attributes the slow response to difficulty in reaching key university personnel --
including Police Chief Bill King, who was out of town on March 25 -- and a delay by dispatch
between the initial request to issue an alert and the construction and delivery of the message.
The school's alert systems are overseen by Dorothy Miller, FIU's emergency management
coordinator, who works under King. Miller did not hear of the attack until 43 minutes after it
occurred.
``As a result, fundamental questions such as whether an alert had already been issued were not
asked until well after the incident took place,'' Acosta said.
As a result of the monthlong study and Acosta's subsequent recommendations, Rosenberg
Monday demanded specific changes to FIU's emergency management/alert systems.
They include:
• Identifying potential emergencies and drafting messages in advance that could be sent out
quickly and with minimal levels of authorization.
• Determining the cause of the failed text messages and conducting an immediate review of
their effectiveness after each future use.
• Implementing a policy in which all members of the university community are signed up to
receive these texts.
• Developing an emergency notification call list with a clear chain.
Rosenberg wants these changes implemented no later than the start of hurricane season on
June 1.
Despite those breakdowns, Acosta had nothing but praise for the actions of FIU students and
first responders that evening.
Police officers arrived at the university's recreation center, where Wyche is said to have stabbed
Berry, within four minutes of the 9:03 p.m. 911 call. The first ambulance pulled up a minute later
and transported Berry within 10 minutes of the original call.
``In the minutes and hours [following the attack], individual staff at FIU did their jobs, and did
them well,'' Acosta said.
``Dispatch coordinated first responders. FIU police took charge of the crime scene, identified
and apprehended possible suspects. The staff in housing and residential life responded quickly,
providing heightened security and counseling to those in the residence halls.''
Still, medics were unable to save Berry, who died shortly thereafter. Wyche has remained in
Miami-Dade lockup since surrendering to authorities the next day. He has been charged with
second-degree murder, although his attorney contends he acted in self-defense.