Outside investigators released their report into the death of McCuskey outside her University of Utah dorm, and it is a withering assessment of an undertrained and undermanaged university police department.
U. President Ruth Watkins has embraced the experts’ findings and pledged to pursue its multiple recommendations, but she also said the report “does not offer us a reason to believe” the campus shooting couldn’t have been prevented.
Casting the University of Utah student’s death as something unavoidable is not just inaccurate. It also lowers expectations for a safe campus.
Watkins is right that ultimate responsibility for McCluskey’s death belongs the man who pulled the trigger, Melvin Rowland.