With the government and media ordering Americans to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting, the vague, unspecified terrorist threats have some people acting like loonies who filled their caves with batteries and creamed corn for Y2K. At Boston University, officials are taking a much more relaxed approach, which helps students’ peace of mind and creates a reasonable level of concern. However, BU should apply its strategy for addressing threats in Washington and London to its own campus by sending out a letter briefly detailing what the university is doing to prepare and how students should react to any acts of terrorism.

The BU Police Department said it is basically following what has become normal protocol since Sept. 11 although the terror threat became high last week. They are keeping in touch with the FBI and increasing patrols at major events while stressing that students remain alert and report any suspicious activity.

This appropriate approach balances the need to do anything possible to ward off attacks with the need to not disturb students unnecessarily. However, sending a letter to students and parents specifying what BU is doing and what students should do would not do any harm. As long as the letter has a cautious yet realistic tone, it will provide a better understanding of the situation and confidence in what BU is doing.

For the London and Washington programs, BU sent out packets with extremely specific procedures to follow in the event of an attack. Because those locations probably are at higher risks and students are in less familiar cities, this appropriate response gave specific information students could possibly have to rely on. BU should apply this tailored approach to other abroad locations and its own campus.

An attack could happen anywhere, so BU should update students in other locations to remind them of information they might have discarded or lost since orientation. At the main campus, the university should send a letter conveying how much planning the school is doing. While revealing specific contingency plans could obviously compromise their effectiveness, students and parents want to have some idea of what BU has in store.

Also, a written call for students to remain vigilant may be more effective, and students need to know what they should be doing every day. Students also need to know what do to on a day the unthinkable happens where to go, what easy-to-remember number to call for information and how to protect themselves.

Panic always creates problems in emergency situations and just creates unneeded stress during everyday life. However, BU should remember that actual information helps people cope with and prepare for threats and apply that to the current situations in Boston and other locations of BU programs. Sending a letter to BU students and parents is a perfect way to balance everyone’s concerns and relay important information.