It was exactly one year ago today that we heard the terrifying news of the Virginia Tech massacre. On Sunday, it will have been nine years since the same fate struck Columbine High School.
Over the years, fear on college campuses has increased and made students feel uneasy when they open this new chapter in their lives.
In the wake of Virginia Tech, a wave of fear and trepidation swept across campuses from coast to coast. Some students even returned home in the weeks following the shooting, refusing to finish out the semester at their current institution.
Thirty-three people were confirmed dead in the hours that followed the deadliest shooting rampage to take place on American soil, and thousands more were left scarred with the images as the day unfolded.
Just eight years ago in the same week, two students ripped through Columbine High School in a frenzy of bullets, killing 12 people, including one teacher and themselves, and injuring 23 others.
The chilling trend continued on Feb. 15 when a former student killed five students at Northern Illinois University before turning the gun on himself. Sixteen students were injured in the spray of bullets as the gunman stood on stage above a room full of students.
Those hit hardest were the ones who either experienced the shootings firsthand or knew of someone on either the Columbine or Virginia Tech campus on those amoral days.
A “new normal” developed in the minds of students at these campuses in the days and weeks following the massacres. But what about students living on other campuses? Schools implemented new safety measures, police presence intensified, and students practiced a higher sense of awareness.
So why do we still not feel safe trolling around campus at night? Why do we still get chills when we see people wearing black trench coats and combat boots? Why doesn’t our school do more to make us feel safer?
After Virginia Tech, schools throughout the country, including SMU, found threats scrawled on bathroom walls and pieces of paper. Besides a brief e-mail notifying students of the threats, classes went on as scheduled, no extra police officers seemed to be present, and no other visible safety measures were implemented to ensure our safety. No wonder students continue to feel queasy on campus.
So what can be done? We need to be able to trust that our schools are stepping up security measures and properly handling any threatening evidence that might come up.
Until we feel completely safe, it is important to remember the victims of these tragedies and do what we can to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.
