Spring Break
Our thoughts go to NIU
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Opinion
For the second time in our tenure as student journalists, we have the unfortunate duty of reporting a campus shooting. Sadly, this incident is closer to home.
We at the WC wish we could offer answers as to why yet another campus was shocked and saddened as innocent students were injured and killed while attending class. The only certainty we can provide is a harsh truth - incidents like these, no matter how tragic and infuriating, cannot be prevented.
As time passes, countless people will wonder about the motive and mental health of the shooter. If the person was mentally unstable and needed help, was it refused or not offered? Even if help was available, it may have not made a difference.
The situation and the individual will be scrutinized in hopes of finding warning signs, but as we learned from Virginia Tech, sometimes the warning signs are not heeded or even recognized.
Questions of campus safety will also be asked. The person who terrorized a class at NIU was not a student at the university. In a lecture hall with 162 students, it is highly unlikely every registered student would have been able to recognize an unfamiliar face.
During the following days and weeks, memorial services and funerals will be held as a campus tries to understand how this happened. In order to try and protect their students and faculty, will other universities begin constructing metal detectors at the entrances of all campus buildings? Is it only a matter of time before we are forced to purchase and use clear backpacks?
While we can only speculate the circumstances surrounding this sad day, we could like to extend our most sincere thoughts/prayers/good karma to our fellow students at Northern. We are with you.
Our heartfelt condolences also go out to the entire staff of the Northern Star newspaper, which lost one of its own. No amount of journalism classes train us for times like these.
We at the WC wish we could offer answers as to why yet another campus was shocked and saddened as innocent students were injured and killed while attending class. The only certainty we can provide is a harsh truth - incidents like these, no matter how tragic and infuriating, cannot be prevented.
As time passes, countless people will wonder about the motive and mental health of the shooter. If the person was mentally unstable and needed help, was it refused or not offered? Even if help was available, it may have not made a difference.
The situation and the individual will be scrutinized in hopes of finding warning signs, but as we learned from Virginia Tech, sometimes the warning signs are not heeded or even recognized.
Questions of campus safety will also be asked. The person who terrorized a class at NIU was not a student at the university. In a lecture hall with 162 students, it is highly unlikely every registered student would have been able to recognize an unfamiliar face.
During the following days and weeks, memorial services and funerals will be held as a campus tries to understand how this happened. In order to try and protect their students and faculty, will other universities begin constructing metal detectors at the entrances of all campus buildings? Is it only a matter of time before we are forced to purchase and use clear backpacks?
While we can only speculate the circumstances surrounding this sad day, we could like to extend our most sincere thoughts/prayers/good karma to our fellow students at Northern. We are with you.
Our heartfelt condolences also go out to the entire staff of the Northern Star newspaper, which lost one of its own. No amount of journalism classes train us for times like these.
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