OUR VIEW: Our hearts go out to NIU
The unthinkable happened again.
For the fourth time in the past week alone, a gunman entered a school and started a murderous shooting rampage, this time at Northern Illinois University. The masked gunman killed five students before turning the gun on himself, transforming a day celebrated for love into one of horror and sadness.
Our hearts go out to the students, faculty and families at NIU. As college students, we have a common bond, regardless of the colors we wear or the mascot we cheer for. Their suffering is our suffering.
The scary thing about these shootings is they seem to be more common at universities nestled in small, quiet towns, not too unlike Logan. These students likely went to school that day thinking it was just another day. School was almost done for many that day, in fact, even the class in which the shooting occurred was almost done for the day, but the massacre was just beginning.
Sadly, these so-called unthinkable acts aren’t so unthinkable anymore, they’re becoming more common every day. While many Americans are concerned about terrorism from abroad, there seems to be plenty of internal terrorism to worry about. Like all forms of terrorism, it is hard to predict and hard to combat.
What could schools do better to protect students and faculty? At NIU, they had emergency systems in place. They had practice last year shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, when threats were found written on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Taking a cue from the fatalities at Virginia Tech, NIU didn’t casually brush this aside, they canceled classes in order to run a safe investigation. Even with all the precautions, a tragedy still struck.
So, what’s a school to do these days? Is it too dangerous for schools to operate? Do we need to have metal detectors and pat downs at every entrance? Even if that were in place, would it still stop these horrible tragedies? Probably not. Those who commit these horrible acts will find a way. The gunman at NIU, dressed in black, walked onto a lecture stage and started firing with a shotgun and later with a handgun. From all the evidence currently available, this attack seemed planned and deliberate. How do you stop a murder before it happens? This is a question law enforcement officials have grappled with for years and have yet to come up with a solid answer.
The terrible truth of our time is these shootings are a reality and schools need to be aware that these events could happen at their school and there should be some sort of emergency plan in place. At USU, there is such an emergency plan prepared. Hopefully it will never have to be utilized. But, something more must be done. These shootings cannot be allowed to continue at the increased rate they are happening. Politicians talk a considerable amount about threats from abroad. It’s about time more attention be given to threats within the United States. These solutions will not come easily, but hopefully with more attention, research and study, something can be done about this travesty.
Until that time, we at USU mourn with NIU.