Our Thoughts and Prayers for the Virginia Tech Academic Community

As part of the family of higher education, the thoughts and prayers of the Midwestern University community have been with our colleagues at Virginia Tech this week. We watched in horror as the news of the day unfolded and as we learned details of the tragedy. We mourn the loss of 32 innocent students and faculty and celebrate their lives as we learn more about them. It is difficult to understand how this could happen in a place where we expect to be safe. It is an issue our nation will continue to grapple with in the weeks and months ahead. For now, we send our condolences to the families who lost loved ones and our sincere wishes for the recovery and healing of the entire academic community.

Virginia Tech is the home of the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, one of our sister schools in the profession. Their dean sent a note saying that all members of the VCOM family are safe, but they have lost many friends and colleagues. The medical school faculty and students have been treating the victims as EMTs and in the ERs, helping with the painful process of victim identification, and providing what comfort they can to family members and students. The dean noted, "The mind-body-spirit training we received as osteopathic physicians has been so valuable."

On our campuses, we have been reassuring our own students and re-confirming our campus safety policies. Our deans of students have sent notes to the student body, informing them of the efforts of our Emergency Response Team and our crisis planning. As a health care university, we have conducted emergency tests with our local fire and police departments and have even been a staging site for mock drills of hostage situations and bioterrorism events. We will continue to educate the entire campus community about our comprehensive plans, so that people may feel more prepared in the unfortunate event of a real-life emergency scenario. All members of our campus have been reminded of our responsibility to safety efforts, including wearing our ID badges, keeping doors locked, and reporting any suspicious activity. Unfortunately, while we can all take appropriate measures to control our environment, there is little we can do to control the human element. We know such tragic events can happen anywhere.

As our entire nation continues to mourn the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I know many of you are also on college campuses and experiencing the stress and sadness of these events. I encourage you to seek out a friend, a faculty member, or a health professional to talk to during this time. I know you also join me in sending our prayers and thoughts to Virginia Tech. This week, we are all Hokies.