The past two weeks have been hard on the University. We have lost two of our fellow students in as many weeks to circumstances beyond their control and losing them has left all of us thinking their deaths hit too close to home.
Cristina Hnatyshyn, animal, dairy and poultry sciences freshman, died in a traffic accident Sept. 2, becoming one of too many students who lose their lives behind the wheel of a car.
And on Saturday, two robbers shot and killed Aaron Arnold, premedical junior, while he helped a friend outside of the restaurant where they worked.
Though the circumstances are different, both Hnatyshyn and Arnold’s deaths have sent the University reeling as it tries to cope with the loss of two of its family members.
We on this board know that you have all heard it before, but it is never a bad idea to take the time to commit once again to remaining cautious. The University can easily seem an entirely insular realm where we are all completely safe, and for the most part it is. But even here tragedy can impact every one of us. We are on a campus where people put themselves into dangerous situations every day. While neither Hnatyshyn nor Arnold was drunk at the time of their death, the same cannot be said of many students who drive home from the bar every night. The devastating loss of Hnatyshyn and Arnold should remind each of us that life is fragile and should be approached with responsibility not only to ourselves but to our friends as well. The old saying holds true. If it can happen to them, it can happen to you.
As college students, we are all struggling to establish ourselves in the world, and for many of us this is our first time away from home. We owe it to ourselves to look out for one another. We are truly a campus community, and we should act as such. Otherwise our time here is wasted. Our education has been for naught. And all we will have to show for it is more heartache.
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