I am publishing this post again to commemorate the thirteenth observance of the tragic shootings at my alma mater.
I especially grieve for the families of the deceased and the wounded students and others in the class. Beyond that I grieve for the NIU community at large.
I was on campus yesterday morning. I spent an hour with the biology department chairman. I attended a lecture in molecular evolution in Montgomery Hall where I took graduate and post graduate classes (i.e. genetics & human A & P). I walked through Faraday Hall past a large lecture hall, laboratories, and a small classroom where I took general chemistry & organic chemistry classes. I strolled past Davis Hall where most of my undergraduate biology classes were held and past Swen Parson library (where I spent hundreds of hours studying) as I made my way to lunch at Holmes Student Center. I left campus at approximately 12:30 pm not knowing the tragic events that would soon unfold. Several former students from Kishwaukee College attend NIU or have graduated from there.
When I arrived home, I returned an e-mail from a former classmate and biology major who had become aware of my visit but who, like me, is retired. He is a past faculty member in the biology department and also dean of the graduate school. Then I e-mailed a former Kishwaukee College and present NIU student who assisted me last year in collecting data from the Kishwaukee River in the state’s RiverWatch program. This all took place minutes before the shooting began.
At approximately 3:00 one of my sisters called and asked if I had the TV on and when I said no, she told me to turn it on but warned me that I would be shocked. I watched in horror as the live coverage wrenched my heart. It was a somber drive a couple hours later as my wife and I drove to a Valentine Day dinner at an East State Street restaurant, made even more somber by the sight and sound of helicopters flying to nearby St. Anthony Hospital from DeKalb.
We have season football tickets, recently attended a men’s basketball game, and I play(ed) in the alumni band at homecoming. As you can see I still have close ties with NIU and my wife has taken graduate classes there too. We grieve for you NIU but in our grief we know that you will endure and become a better, stronger institution. May God bless you in these terrible hours and beyond.
