Monday morning, news broke of a shooter on Ohio State University’s campus. Eventually it was confirmed that the attacker used only his car and a butcher knife to attack students, creating a scene of mass hysteria before being shot by police that were quick to respond.
Pictures on social media of students barricading classrooms and watching events unfold live from their dorm windows held the nation in suspense as information trickled out. These advances in social media have helped warn and prepare students during times of emergency they never suspected to happen and in some ways help protect against them.
But still, every time news breaks, we look around and think what would happen if a shooting happened in our own city. Where would you hide? Who might you lose?
A college campus is supposed to be one of the most treasured spaces on American soil. Those entering and leaving college view their position as a time of growth and new beginnings. A threat to a college campus is a direct threat to our youth, our future and our freedom of knowledge.
Thankfully, at the time of publication, there have been no reported deaths other than that of the attacker himself. Classes were canceled for the day and, while one victim is in critical condition, the rest seem to be fine from what reports say.
While there is no known motive, the implications are clear. College campuses are obvious targets along with shopping malls and movie theaters for mass attacks. But unlike these other areas, college campuses are places where people come together from all backgrounds to engage with one another in a variety of ways. It’s a place for people to “grow up” and get accustom to living in the real world.
It is impossible for a campus attack to feel random the way an attack may seem in other venues because each college campus is a specific community. Attackers target schools because they are often seeking the attention of their peers and want to have the most devastating impact on them.
College is a micro-culture of America. People of all different kinds and creeds are working, learning and living together. Students are in pursuit of something greater than themselves, reaching concepts that will further the human race or working to achieve a better life from whence they came.
The loss of any young life is a tragedy, but a violent loss of life in an environment meant to foster and enhance those very lives feels not just tragic, but impious. This is not just a violent outburst but an affront to a system of self-liberation through education.
Ryan Thaxton is a 20-year-old sophomore from Monroe, Louisiana.