Campus Alert Archive
Stillman

An HBCU in the Path of the Tuscaloosa Tornado Loses a Senior Days Before Graduation

ALtornadoemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

When the EF4 Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado tore through Tuscaloosa around 5:10 p.m. CDT on April 27, 2011, Stillman College — a historically Black college on the city's west side — was in the broader disaster zone of a storm that killed 64 people and injured more than 1,500. Stillman senior baseball player William "Will" Chase Stevens, scheduled to graduate May 7, was killed when a house collapsed; President Ernest McNealey announced the loss to the campus the following day.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
1
Injured
0
Institution
Stillman College
Hbcu · AL
~1,100 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction181 chars
STILLMAN ALERT: TORNADO WARNING for Tuscaloosa. A large, dangerous tornado is approaching. Take shelter NOW on the lowest floor, interior room, away from windows. Do not go outside.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed wording: no verbatim Stillman alert text was located, so this paraphrases the standard tornado-warning instruction as the EF4 bore down on Tuscaloosa shortly before 5:10 p.m. CDT on April 27, 2011.
Stillman had no on-campus storm shelters in 2011; the college added seven afterward, a direct policy response to this event.
The warning lead time on April 27 was unusually long for the era, but the tornado's violence overwhelmed many ordinary shelter options across Tuscaloosa.
FOLLOW-UPEmail+23h 10m
Approximate reconstruction380 chars
It is with profound sorrow that I share news that one of our students, William Chase Stevens, lost his life in yesterday's tornado. Will was a senior scheduled to graduate on May 7. Please keep his family and friends in your prayers. Counseling services are available. We will share information on campus operations and commencement as soon as possible. Ernest McNealey, President

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from reporting: the Crimson White reported that President Ernest McNealey announced at a Friday assembly in Birthright Auditorium that senior Will Stevens had 'lost his life'; the full message text was not located.
Stevens died off campus when a house collapsed, alongside two friends — the casualty count below reflects this student fatality.
Framed as a follow-up community notification rather than an emergency notification, because the immediate threat had passed and the message addressed grief, counseling, and operations.
Context

Background

April 27, 2011 was the deadliest day of the 2011 Super Outbreak, and the EF4 Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado was its signature storm, touching down in Greene County and tracking across Tuscaloosa around 5:10 p.m. CDT with peak winds near 190 mph. Stillman College, an HBCU on Tuscaloosa's west side, lay within the broader devastation; the storm killed 44 people in Tuscaloosa alone. Stillman lost senior baseball player Will Stevens, who died when a house collapsed days before his scheduled May 7 commencement, and President Ernest McNealey announced the death at a campus assembly. The college had no on-campus storm shelters in 2011 and built seven afterward. The case captures how a small, under-resourced institution communicated through both an immediate shelter warning and a wrenching community follow-up, and why the 2011 outbreak became a turning point in campus severe-weather preparedness across Alabama.
Analysis

Key Findings

The EF4 Tuscaloosa tornado struck around 5:10 p.m. CDT on April 27, 2011, killing 64 people regionally and 44 in Tuscaloosa
Stillman College senior Will Stevens, days from his May 7 graduation, was killed when a house collapsed
Stillman had no on-campus storm shelters in 2011 and built seven afterward as a direct result
The college's response spanned an immediate shelter warning and a follow-up community grief-and-counseling notification from President Ernest McNealey
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Tuscaloosa-Birmingham Tornado - April 27, 2011 - National Weather Service
    weather.gov
  2. Student Paper
    Stillman College student killed by tornado - The Crimson White
    thecrimsonwhite.com
  3. Source
    2011 Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
  4. News
    Remembering the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes From Those Who Lived It - WBHM
    wbhm.org
Tags
tornadosevere-weatheralabamahbcutuscaloosa2011-super-outbreakstudent-fatality2011
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion