Having been traveling and having not caught up on news, I just learned that a shooting tragedy had happened on Northern Illinois University’s campus on Feb. 14, ironically Valentine’s Day. Seeing the names of the victims’ names on NIU’s website brought tears into my eyes. My mourning and sympathy go to the family of the victims of the incident.
This is another college campus shooting event in close proximity in time to the Virginia Tech shooting. As a university professor myself, I cannot say that it does not bring fear to my heart. But besides a sense of anxiety, I am much more concerned with the reasons that triggered such events. What is happening to our college campuses? What is happening to our students? Could us professors and school administrators have done something to deal with this deep level of pressure that drove someone to kill others? I do not have the answer to these questions. I wish we can all understand this better and can help prevent this from happening in the first place.