As a campus, how do we move on from acts of violence that end with a UW student dead and a young man on trial for second-degree murder?
In cases like this, it is important to note that as a nation, state, town and university we have encountered similar situations and in one way or another and move on. We have shown time and time again that we can forgive but never forget, and carry on with daily life.
There has been the Boston Marathon bombings, the Aurora Colo. Movie theater shootings, Matthew Shepard’s death and now the aftermath of two Halloween parties gone wrong.
We should—no, we need to, work through the full five stages of grief, to have a time to mourn, to demand justice before finally moving on.
There has been denial, where it is all too easy to think that as a campus we don’t have a problem with drinking, even though it is an open secret that we do. We have been rated by Playboy magazine as the biggest partying school in the nation and urbandictionary.com calls us “the hardest drinking university in the United States.” If anything, at least for a few, the myth of a “work hard play hard” mentality still persists. It is easy to remain in denial but it is also important to move on.
Outrage that this took place, where a fun night turned into the last night of someone’s life, is a normal part of the process. There is a lot to be angry about but before falling into the bargaining and depression stages the most important thing is to demand action. How many more students need to die or be critically injured before the problem of drinking, a lack of alternative activities and violence are firmly addressed?
There are many great programs that offer an alternative to drinking, such as the weekly activities put on by Concerts and Convocations and the Student Activities Council. Safe Ride is providing a much needed service. These do exist, but clearly not enough is being done.
As a campus, as a community, as a student body, we need to make sure that more is being done to make sure that no one has to think that one weekend may be their last, so ultimately we are able to move on.
Write a letter to the editor with your feelings, post on and keep talking about drinking on campus, Dalton Dale Wilkerson’s trial and any other issue that is not being publically considered. Do not remain stuck in the denial stage.
