Just over a month ago, someone with a weapon was spotted near North Campus. The WUSTLAlert system went off. And almost nobody reacted. I remember walking around thinking, “What is that funny sounding alarm?” and only later seeing an alert in my inbox.

A few weeks ago, a young man was shot by the metro station near the Medical Campus. Once again, the WUSTLAlert system went off. Almost nobody reacted. I got the alert that time, and I made sure I stayed where I was (in my dorm room).

Wednesday afternoon, one of our amazing food service workers was shot in front of the Mallinckrodt Center. I was in psychology, learning about aggression in adolescents (I know, kind of ironic). All of a sudden, the gun violence that has been an issue in my city for longer than anyone can remember became very real for all of my peers. We are very privileged to live in a safe area of the city, and it is very easy to convince ourselves that something like this can never happen at our school.

But it can.

And it could have been much worse.

Some people knew what to do. One girl helped keep everyone calm and get on the ground out of sight. Someone turned off the lights and the projector so someone looking in would assume the lecture hall was empty. I locked down the room by wrapping belts around the hinges above the doors (that part that helps close the door after you open it). And then we waited in the dark.

What struck me during that time was how unprepared we were for this situation. My professor didn’t recognize the alarm at first, and while she stopped the lecture, she didn’t give any direction to the students on what to do (this isn’t actually too surprising; I once had a professor teach through a fire alarm, but that could be a story in itself). It was only after alerts started coming in on people’s phones and everyone collectively realized that the alert was for the Danforth Campus that a few jumped to action to help everyone stay calm and secure the room.

But it’s not really anyone’s fault that they did not know what to do. Many of us, myself included, have never been directly affected by gun violence. I for one never had an active shooter drill at my high school, and the only reason I knew what to do was through my training from the Red Cross and the Boy Scouts. Sitting on the “Hilltop Campus,” it is easy to forget that violence is a large part of the lives of many in this city and around the world. And because of that, very few here are prepared for it.

So what can we do about it? First off, I believe the University has an obligation to train all of its employees on proper active shooter procedures. If they are serious about being prepared, as the implementation of the WUSTLAlert system seems to indicate, then they need to go further than simply relaying emergency information. Just as there are procedures in place for a fire in the building or a tornado, University employees must know how to keep us safe during an emergency such as this.

But we cannot expect the University to take all of the burden here. When you got the alert, did you know where all the entrances and exits to the building were? Did you know where the safest place to hide was? Did you know how to barricade the door with what you had on hand? Knowing the answers to these questions could be the difference between life and death if there is ever another situation like Wednesday’s. Off-campus organizations like the Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Red Cross have great citizen preparedness programs that teach you how to keep yourself and others safe in a crisis. Furthermore, I believe these issues are important enough to be included as a discussion point in the already packed schedule of “Bear Beginnings.”

I hope that in the midst of this tragedy some good will come out of it. Perhaps it will prevent an even worse incident from occurring in the future.

But right now, everybody should take a break; maybe treat yourself to something nice tonight. Be thankful for your loved ones and the breath you breathe every day. And when you’re ready, get back to work. After all, finals are just around the corner.