Hearing that 33 kids your age have been shot to death in a situation very similar to yours is extraordinarily unnerving, to say the least.

This situation is what Washburn students and students at colleges across the country are attempting to deal with presently. These students are dealing with the particularly unsettling feeling that it could happen to them.

My mother called me and told me she wanted me to come back home. While I don’t know that I am ready to move back in with my mom, I do think it is something to be concerned about and I am glad that the university police force and the administration are turning their attention to preparedness. However, I think there is an issue students need to prepare for. I just read an article from The Morning Call Online that said students are more likely to win the lottery than be gunned down on campus. Fair enough. The likelihood of being shot on campus is fairly low. I would hypothesize that it is strikingly low in comparison to the likelihood of something like physical assault or robbery.

Right before the news of Virginia Tech, students at Washburn received several warnings from the police department telling students to be watchful of suspicious individuals on campus. This is something students should be more concerned about than being shot on their way to Spanish.

I am not saying we should not mourn the loss of the Virginia Tech students, or that we should not be wary of the possibility of a similar situation on Washburn’s campus. What I am saying is students at Washburn should also be wary of their situation presently. It is not cause for alarm – yet. It will be important that students work together to keep their campus safe.