NIU

Northern Illinois University is my alma mater and where I look back with fondness on four very interesting years. The first college classroom I ever stepped into as a student was at Cole Hall for an introductory class on American politics. Over the years, I would spend many more hours in that auditorium, taking a variety of courses. Today, nearly eight years after I was last inside Cole Hall, violence ripped through the very room where I once listened to lectures and tried to take decent notes. As of now, five innocent victims have lost their lives with several more injured.

When tragedies like these occur, it is too early and often too convenient to start trying to explain what happened and why it did. There may be a time for that, but for now, I think I join all alumni of NIU who wish that our school was making national headlines for other reasons and asking that G-d bless the victims and their families.