It’s been in the news for days now. Yale University student, Annie Le, missing and now found dead. Her wedding was supposed to be this past Sunday, the same day she was discovered lifeless in a laboratory on campus.
The news quickly spread around a campus full of students who were obviously on-guard. And a formal campus announcement was made on Monday morning, after Annie was positively identified.
The same day, an employee sent out an email to the entire student body about an upcoming job-search workshop and the subject line read: Killer Cover Letters.
I wonder if the sender of the email had not yet heard the news on his or her planet? I wonder if that person was a new, young and inexperienced employee or if they had been there for some time? And I wonder what the students thought when the word “Killer” appeared in their inbox – in any context?
Turns out, Killer Cover Letters is the name typically used for the on-campus workshop. But the brutal murder that happened 48 hours before was not typical. Sometimes, things have to change with the circumstances.
It should be said that Yale University assistant dean Philip Jones did issue an apology hours after the email had been sent (and opened). He reached out to the students using the same method of communication, email.
Next time – God forbid – there is a tragedy on any campus, I hope the lesson was learned that words and timing can be very sensitive. Think before you hit send.
