UNCW faculty and staff address campus threat concerns at an open forum

NEW HANOVER, NC (WWAY) — Following the recent events at UNCW, faculty and staff gathered in Kenan Auditorium for a forum to ask questions and voice concerns.   

Chancellor Aswani Volety and UNCW Police Chief Frank Brinkley were there to address both questions and comments from the campus community. 

The goal was to give faculty and staff a chance to share how the week’s events impacted them and their students.  

Chief Brinkley emphasized the importance of open dialogue.   

“It is important that we have, that people feel comfortable coming forward with their concerns and their questions and are able to get answers, or at least point us in the direction where they want to hear answers in the future when we can release them,” said Brinkley.  

Brinkley says there are still many unanswered questions and that investigators need time to gather all the facts.   

“I know there’s still a lot of misinformation that we’re trying to correct and there’s still a lot of questions that people want answered, that we’re not ready to go into detail on yet as we gather, make sure we have all the facts,” said Brinkley.  

Many of the questions centered on last week’s potential gunman threat that prompted a campus lockdown.  

Staff Senate Chair Angie Wiggins said she expected those questions to be the main focus.  

“Based on all the events that happened last week, I, really honestly there wasn’t a question that surprised me, it was the same questions that I too as a staff member has,” said Wiggins.  

Wiggins says forums like this help faculty and staff unite and move forward, especially for the sake of students. 

“We truly are here for the students, they are our highest priority, we literally wouldn’t even be here without them, so the more that we can come together as faculty and staff, it’s only going to make the institution even stronger than it already is,” said Wiggins.