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  • Northern Illinois University

    By Dean Dad February 14, 2008 9:40 pm

    Every parent's nightmare happened again, this time at NIU. My condolences to the students, faculty, and families there.

    It's scary in so many ways. From early reports, and from Stephen Karlson's on-the-scene reportage, it sounds like NIU did a whole lot of things right. The police arrived quickly, notifications went out quickly, everybody who could be kept out of the way was. Even with all of that, over twenty people were shot, several fatally. The shooter apparently was a former graduate student, so he knew the campus.

    The early tv coverage kept using terms like 'lockdown,' but it's hard to imagine just how that could work on an open, sprawling campus. K-12 schools are often a single building surrounded by a parking lot and/or athletic fields, so it's relatively easy to restrict access to the inside. But most colleges and universities of any size have multiple buildings, many different functions going on simultaneously, and a constantly changing stream of people walking around at any given time. At my college, for
    instance, it's not unusual to have regular classes, non-credit classes, public programs, and swim meets happening simultaneously. People come and go all the time, and there's absolutely nothing unusual about seeing faces you don't recognize. I see people I don't recognize every single day. It's more like a small city than, say, a high school. How do you lock down a small city?

    At larger universities, the problem is even greater. How would you lock down the University of Michigan? You'd half to put half of Ann Arbor in a bubble. It's just not reality.

    And even that is all based on the assumption that a lockdown would help. Early reports indicate that the shooter killed himself before the police arrived, and they arrived as quickly as could be asked.

    I don't have any answers for this. When I heard the news on the radio on the way home, I stopped thinking like a dean, started thinking like a parent, and had to drive through tears. The kids got some extra hugs tonight, not knowing why.

    Sometimes there are no words.

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Comments on Northern Illinois University

  • Hug everyone; we're all scared
  • Posted by phree on February 15, 2008 at 7:50am EST

  • Know that most persons on campus are thinking "this could happen here." I don't have any answers either, but after we send condolences/prayers/thoughts for the latest victims, we ought to start addressing and discussing this issue openly before more tragedies happen.

  • Tragic loss of lives on campus
  • Posted by Joan Marie , Substitute teacher(K-12)public school at Toms River Regional School District on February 15, 2008 at 10:55am EST

  • My prayers and condolences to the victims,their families,classmates and professors. My Scottish cousin Rita's grandchildren attended a school in Dunblane,Scotland in 1996. It was also the scene of tragic loss of life caused by a deranged shooter. Something can and must be done. Wanding down everyone entering school buildings needs to be seriously considered. The cost and inconvenience of wanding for weapons would be negligible in comparison to the cost of losing another human life.

  • Posted by mike on February 17, 2008 at 6:00am EST

  • Hooray for gun free zones!!!

  • And they are troopers in the best sense
  • Posted by Robert Ross , Vice President (retired) at Community College on February 19, 2008 at 11:40am EST

  • I had the opportunity to visit one of the Gibbs recently and can verify the outstanding work ethic and commitment of the that the faculty and staff. They love their students and are committed to making a difference in their lives and the communities they work in.

    The students are idealistic optimistic and committed to getting ahead. Whether sold a pipe dream or not, they are pragmatic believers in the American Dream which just became a bit more distant for them.

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