I guess it hit me when my mom told me, “Think about those big lecture halls. Make sure to pick a seat close to an exit.” That was a few weeks before I first left for school in August.
It wasn’t long before her words took a back seat as I just tried to find any spot when I arrived to class just as the bell was ringing because I overslept, or when I strategically tried to place myself next to a cute boy when I had time. Hey, we all do it.
But her words resonated once again when I returned to campus after winter break. Now on every door underneath the university’s new non-smoking policy signs, there is a simple picture of a gun with a blaring red, non-allowed circle piercing through the black shape. A subtle yet ever-present reminder of the gun violence that constantly haunts college campuses today.
The week we returned to school after break, there were three college campus shootings and another reported one at the University of Oklahoma that prompted a lockdown.
We tend to be less afraid when these shootings occur in further places, such as Pennsylvania or South Carolina, where two of the shootings occurred. But when one, the Purdue shooting, occurred, suddenly the situation seemed to be examined in a much closer light. That is when it strikes close to home. That is when it plays through your mind with the words “that could’ve been me,” on repetition.
To come back to school with those signs greeting us only to hear each day of a new shooting seemed like some type of sick joke. To grow up in a culture where one has to be warned and urged to take precautions against mass shootings and campus violence in general is disgusting.
Here at Illinois, every freshman must attend FYCARE, a program that brings light to sexual violence. One of the largest things that stuck out for me was the statistic that one in four collegiate women will be raped.
I’m oversimplifying, but we are always advised from a young age in how to prevent such rapes whether it’s from wearing different clothes to not walking by yourself at night. The list is endless and disheartening. You shouldn’t have to plan ahead to avoid being raped. It’s not fair and yet unfortunately, it’s the culture that we face every day.
You hear about these incidents all the time, but you go to class every day and learn to ignore the issue until another incident prompts another reminder.
And that’s the scary part — this has become a relatively normal procedure for colleges today. It’s at the point where there have to be signs and classes to define what should be clearly implied.
Guns shouldn’t be on a college packing list. Learning about sexual violence should not be just another task to check off the freshman requirement list. And when a school has to state the obvious, the problem has gotten to a point where I’m not sure stickers and classes make that much of a difference.