NIU Needs Answers

It’s weird. Today when walking to classes I had a hard time believing something so tragic ever happened here. Security has been minimized, the counselors are out of classrooms, the dogs aren’t walking around campus . Yes; It’s a good thing that some form of ‘normalcy’ is coming back, but the one thing that continues to puzzle me is the debate over Cole Hall.

Looking at it, you would never think something so horrific occurred inside. It looks deserted and untouched. When President Peters asked me what I thought should be done to it, I told him I simply just didn’t know. Part of me feels as if it’d be best to just tear it down. I, for one, know I could never sit in that lecture hall ever again.
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Last week my aunt had a car fall from the sky onto her car while she was driving down I-90.

The incident has made me think about random crime and how people are supposed to cope with a situation that one can’t really prepare for. The quest for a motive has forced police to explore Kazmierczak’s recent changes.

More information continues to surface about looking at Cole Hall and its targeting.

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Note to readers: The reason for me actively writing blogs is for people to know they aren’t alone. My way of expressing my emotions is through writing, and through this I just want people to see that maybe what they feel or question is the same thing I do as well. It’s nice to know you aren’t the only one…

I was extremely nervous going into class on Monday. I didn’t know what to expect. Would my professors know I was in that class? What were the counselors going to do? Would we return to learning? Luckily, that first class went alright. The counselor didn’t even talk too much. It even turned out that a few students had read my column about my experience that was published in the Northern Star that day. I got a lot of support from those who read it which was comforting and made class a lot easier for me to get through.

The first time I had class in a lecture hall was nerve-racking. I could not sit still the entire class. I kept staring at the doors to make sure security guards were there watching them. It felt so weird being in a new lecture hall; what made the class worse was that we were in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium which was where they took witnesses to talk to the police after the shooting. So continually though out the class I kept having flashbacks of that nightmare of Valentine’s Day, when the auditorium was filled with shook-up students.
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On Thursday Governor Blagojevich pledged to ask the state legislature for $40 million in funding to tear down Cole Hall and put up a new lecture building called Memorial Hall. The building could be done as early as December 2010 according to Melanie Magara, NIU university spokeswoman.
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Yes, NIU needs answers, wants answers. As we continue to struggle toward answering the most clichéd of all questions, “why”, we have witnessed an outpouring of emotion from everyone in the community.

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NIUFilter will be a regular segment on this blog that attempts to sift through the reams of information one can acquire on the web surrounding this tragedy, so click away, the links are meant to enhance your knowledge.

There has been a lot of news on this topic lately, hopefully this will help you figure out the truth. Today’s subject: Kazmierczak. What do we know so far?

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Most of us know about the Memorial Service at NIUs Convocation Center tonight at 7 p.m. There is much information about said service available here. Many of us might not know one of America’s more wretched and deplorable groups plans to descend on DeKalb tonight as well.

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When you think of what answers NIU needs, what answers that the Huskie community absolutely yearns for, the obvious one is “why”, in its many different forms. Sam touched on the why question in her first hand account. Sadly, the most important why question may never be fully answered. And that, is difficult for those left behind to cope with.

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By Sam Brunell

Could this be real? Was it a joke? A drill?

He never really stopped shooting. I couldn’t take my eyes of him. When he got closer to the aisle (which was in my direct path), reality kicked in. I dropped to my knees and laid flat on the hard, cold floor taking cover under the not-so-comfortable hard lecture seats.

It was 1:30 p.m. on February 14, 2008.

I was sitting in my dorm room with Mike and Justin. I had been religiously checking blackboard to see if my Geol 104 test grade had been posted. It was fairly cold outside and I had been in classes since 8, so I really didn’t want to go outside, to yet another class.

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This message was sent out to student’s emails on Friday afternoon. The NIU administration never thought they would have to deal with a situation like this. The community has united.

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Just one week ago, a brief but horrifying outburst of violence plunged our campus into the greatest turmoil most of us have ever experienced. Since that awful day, we have also witnessed the greatest outpouring of compassion and concern we could possibly imagine. Across campus, throughout our country and around the world, people are reaching out to NIU and to each other with support of every conceivable type.

Even as we mourn the loss of five wonderful students and the incalculable damage done to dozens more, the NIU family is working hard to prepare for our return to the business of teaching and learning. I am particularly grateful to faculty and staff who participated in sessions that prepared them to help students in the days and weeks ahead. As many of you know, we will have trained counselors in every classroom on Monday and throughout next week to provide on-site assistance for students. We know that healing takes time, and that the grieving process is different for everyone. We will continue to focus our efforts on support for all members of the NIU campus community, in whatever form is needed.
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