AU students, like countless others around the world, have spent the last few days grappling with the loss of those at Virginia Tech. We, as a campus, mourn the loss of our peers and the lives they could have led, and struggle to understand why someone could commit such a senseless act of violence against so many innocent people. As we mourn and question, we have come together as a university and D.C. community.
Campus religious groups banded together Monday night to hold a vigil and SG president Ashley Mushnick has joined with other area student government presidents to issue a statement of sympathy and support to those at Virginia Tech. There have been and undoubtedly will be numerous other demonstrations of comfort and encouragement to those who lost friends and loved ones.
As the country gains some distance from the immediate reality of the attacks, two new important conversations have grown from the tragedy. As the debate about Virginia Tech's response rages throughout the country, colleges nationwide are now forced to examine their own security policies.
At AU, Public Safety currently uses cameras on the blue lights to monitor campus safety, and the President's Office often uses Today@AU bulletins to report important developments. Although most students still feel safe on campus, a proposed text messaging emergency alert system would certainly help. Many AU students don't check their e-mail before early classes, but few go anywhere without their cell phones.
On a more national level, the country has begun debating how a man with a record of hospitalization for mental illness could obtain handguns so easily. The foreign press, while expressing sympathy for the lives lost, has criticized our lax gun control laws. Hopefully this tragedy will encourage members of Congress to put aside politics and re-evaluate what The Washington Post called "the lunacy of this country's romance with firearms."
We must not lose sight of the bigger picture of this tragedy and use it to advocate for positive changes in campus security measures and gun control laws. As the nation begins to heal, we should take a lesson from the strength and sense of community shown by all those at Virginia Tech.
Today, we are all Hokies.
