Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The campus shootings at Virginia Tech are so upsetting. Last week, a woman I didn't know who was wearing hospital scrubs came into my classroom, looked around, sat down in the front row nearest the door, and then after a while, got up and left. I nervously joked with the students after she was gone, trying to guess what her intentions may have been. I know the odds of something horrific happening aren't that high, but in 1994 we did have a gunman hold students and a professor in a lecture center hostage. He was eventually overcome by a group of students. One student was shot during the struggle. The case was the subject of this PBS documentary. I've never received any training on what to do in any sort of emergency situation on campus aside from the once per semester fire drill in my building. I'm pretty calm under pressure, but I think some sort of guidance would be a good idea.

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