The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech last year were a wake-up call to college students across the country. But in Medford, we could at least take some level of comfort from the fact that Tufts is really not that similar a university to Virginia Tech.
The two are situated in parts of the country with opposing views on gun culture, and Virginia Tech is a much larger school than Tufts that lacks a small-community feel.
But last week's shooting at Northern Illinois University hits closer to home. The school matriculates about 2,000 freshmen each year, making it much more similar to Tufts, which enrolls about 1,200 each year, than Virginia Tech, which has about 6,000 students in each class.
So Jumbos, hear this loud and clear: Tragedy can happen anywhere. It is not difficult to imagine last week's killings taking place in Barnum Hall or Cabot Auditorium.
At a campus where academics are taken so seriously, the pressure on students is certainly high enough to cause some to go to unhealthy extremes. Last school year, the Tufts community mourned after a freshman took her own life just before final exams; this was just one of many cases nationwide in which college students hurt themselves or others due to stress or mental health problems.
Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed solution. At a liberal arts college like Tufts, it is impossible to achieve complete prevention. Jumbos would not be quick to accept security guards or metal detectors at building entrances on campus - and these steps would certainly put the brakes on any plans for a universal fob system.
Amid calls for increased campus safety and steps toward prevention, colleges and universities like Tufts should refrain from overreacting and installing extreme security measures. But as students, we should invest in our friends and make sure that they get help if they seem to be in trouble.
An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday cited a 2002 study of school shootings that suggested that students play a crucial role in on-campus gun violence prevention.
The study, conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, looked at 37 incidents of school shootings. It found that in each case, the attacker had mentioned his plan to at least one peer.
"If there is one lesson from Virginia Tech, it is that information-sharing about potentially ill people is the critical link in preventing a major incident," Charles F. Carletta, general counsel at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, told the Chronicle.
Tufts' development of the Send Word Now emergency alert system last fall was a good step to increase communication on campus. But last week's shootings should also serve to increase students' awareness of ways in which they can assist in prevention.
If we hear something, even a joke about a shooting that sounds a little too serious, we should not hesitate to speak up and ensure that someone with the power to help knows.
