Wade Steffey was a 19 year old Purdue freshman from Bloomington, IN who disappeared about 12:30 AM on January 13th, 2007. He was discovered yesterday, deceased, in a high voltage utility room of Owen Hall, the building at which he was last seen. He had called a friend because he was trying to get into Owen, which was not his dorm, because he had left his jacket there. It is currently assumed that he attempted to get into the building by trying different doors, walked into the utility room, and was accidentally electrocuted, resulting in instantaneous death. The story is certainly tragic, but more than that, it is important for a few key reasons.
Wade's disappearance has been widely publicized and has received media attention over the past two months because we had no clues as to what happened. We were assured that every inch of the dormitories had been scoured, so volunteers searched the campus, outlying woods, and the river. We fought for that media coverage because we believed that the more people who knew of Wade, the higher the chance we could find him. Volunteers put up posters all around Indiana and even some in outlying states, trying to spread the word. Now we know that while we all feared that foul play was involved, or hoped that he was still alive, or any of the myriad feelings that come with a disappearance, he was actually in the building where he was last seen. The room was "searched" -- a door was opened and a worker looked around from that vantage point but did not venture further because this room is quite dangerous. Power would have had to have been shut off to the entire building to search the utility room. Does this not seem warranted? If you have a highly dangerous room in the building where Wade was last seen, a room so dangerous it cannot be safely searched without disabling the power, doesn't that room seem a good place to search?
Purdue has a large fault here because this high voltage room was UNMARKED and UNLOCKED from the outside. There is absolutely no excuse as to why such a dangerous room would be left unlocked -- it is dangerous and negligent. If I had been trying to get in the building, I would have done the exact same thing as Wade. This room was right next to the laundry room, it's possible he thought he was going in the laundry room door. The room would have been dark and a person's first instinct is to touch the things around them and try to find a wall or a lightswitch. What tears me up is that Wade's death was in no way his fault -- it was completely avoidable. He didn't do anything stupid. He entered a room that would not, could not, have seemed dangerous. Jeanne Norberg, Purdue spokeswoman, said in a press conference around 10:20 Tuesday morning that the search for Wade is over, but the search for answers continues. The search for answers must continue.
Today was a sad day for all who knew Wade, but words cannot express the surprise I felt when I saw some of the reactions to his death. Groups have been created on Facebook, a popular networking site, ridiculing Wade and his death. These are groups with names such as, "How do you like your Steffey? Baked or crispy?," "Wade Steffey got the shocker," and "I wish I got national media coverage for tripping over my own two feet." I was so appalled to see these sites, so filled with anger and sadness it cannot be described. Who would do this? Who would think that ridiculing someone who has just died, a terrible tragedy, is acceptable? And how do these people have friends? I realize that these individuals have not experienced loss before. How nice the world must seem for them. Things will change, however, and how jarring it will be then.
I realized I had to write this blog entry because the formation of these groups raises scary questions about human nature and behavior. As someone who knew Wade personally, seeing those groups was so offensive and hurtful. I reported all three groups currently formed to Facebook, saying that they violate Facebook's policy of not having groups that ridicule a certain person or group, as these groups certainly do. The creators argue they're simply exercising free speech. Facebook should not allow speech such as this to be published on their website. You can say whatever you want to out in public, to your friends, to yourself. But perhaps you should use some discretion, and don't think that just because you have the right to free speech, every medium through which you speak needs to print it.
I knew Wade since the seventh grade, we've had many of the same classes throughout middle school and high school and a lot of the same friends. Wade was an extremely intelligent person. He was also nice and humble. I mourn his loss and barely know what to do with myself. So remember, every news story you hear, every tragedy, that is a person. Wade was a real person with family, friends, thoughts, feelings, hopes, aspirations. We owe it to ourselves and everyone on earth to be respectful of other people. Don't forget that.
If you are interested in more information, usually the best source is www.purdueexponent.org.
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