The Facts: Hurricane Irene’s effects to Raleigh fell short of the overwhelming predictions of devastation; however, no updates or alerts were provided to students in the event the storm reached the anticipated potential. Our Opinion: The University is responsible for the safety of their students, this includes on and off campus. Students need to know the safety procedures as well as the updated predictions of the storm’s progression. While students in Raleigh found Hurricane Irene an excuse to throw a hurricane party, the damage Irene brought to the entire East Coast was truly devastating. Though Raleigh experienced minor rain and small gusts of wind, students were completely oblivious to the storm at hand, which in part is the University’s responsibility. University Housing’s website thoroughly outlines the policies and procedures if a hurricane is an imminent threat to student safety; however, due to the behavior of  Irene, they should have been more active in notifying and informing students of the projected severe weather.  Unless students were to go to the Housing website and navigate their way to the Weather Prepared section, they would have never known the proper procedure in the event the predictions of Hurricane Irene became reality. This unpreparedness, even in the lack of urgency of Irene, mimics the same disorganization of last year’s tornado, which destroyed parts of Shaw University.  On Thursday, NASA calculated the hurricane at greater than 500 miles in diameter, Gov. Bev Perdue made it clear, no matter where the hurricane would hit it would impact half of the state, including the Triangle.  As soon as the hurricane was projected to have an impact on Raleigh, the University’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety, the department in charge of sending out Wolf Alerts, should have notified students about the coming storm, briefing students on the procedures in the event the storm intensified, as well as predictions on the storm’s impact.  Merely, “closely monitoring forecasts during hurricane season” is not enough. The University should assume students do not regularly check various websites for the proper precautions, and instead relay the information to the students by whatever means necessary.  During the storm in Raleigh, students were out having hurricane parties and treating Irene as a big inside joke. Had it been worse, the lack of awareness would have negatively impacted the students not considering their own safety.  Luckily, the storm did not have nearly as big of an impact on Raleigh as it was projected to on Thursday. That does not mean the procedures should go unannounced or unpublicized.  Hurricane season is not yet over, so hopefully the University and students will learn from the false alarm that was Hurricane Irene and be prepared for next time.