NIU professor: It didn't take long to know there was a problem on campus
By LEE TANT, T&D Staff WriterThursday, February 21, 2008Northern Illinois University Professor the Rev. Dr. S. Todd Yeary was a mere 400 yards away last Thursday when Steve Kazmierczak fired shots inside a lecture hall, killing five people and then himself.
On Wednesday, he was in Orangeburg, talking about that day and answering questions about what happened.
Yeary said he was walking to his office when approached by a colleague who told him the campus was on lockdown. He didn't think too much of it as similar protocols had been used several times.
Things changed quickly.
"Somewhere as time kept moving on, you kind of knew something was going on," Yeary said.
He was too far away from Cole Hall, where the incident occurred, to hear any of the gunshots. About 160 students were in Cole Hall when the gunman approached from the front of the building. Once those students realized the threat was serious, many were able to escape from the rear of the auditorium, he said.
"It could have been much worse," said Yeary, who noted the 48 shell casings police found at the scene.
The faculty at NIU returned to campus Tuesday. Instructors are currently going through the process of training for grief counseling, a subject with which Yeary is familiar through his background in pastoral psychology.
Yeary was at Claflin University Wednesday to speak as a part of the university's Religious Emphasis Week. He is the associate director of the Center for Black Studies at NIU and the pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore, Md. His areas of academic focus are African studies, psychology and religion.
He says the university will accommodate students in any way possible to help them overcome the tragic circumstances.
"It's being responsive to whatever the students are feeling," Yeary said of assisting students.
He believes the campus will be brought together in the same way Virginia Tech's campus was when it coped with tragedy last year. Yeary said the NIU community is already showing signs of handling the situation collectively.
"Students are very supportive of each other. There's been a lot of expression of grief," he said.
When the memorial service is held Sunday for those slain last week, Yeary expects a full house at the university's convocation center. He noted the building has a capacity of 10,000 people, but he expects it to be overflowing.
The first question people ask when these incidents happen is "why?" Yeary said. He believes the more appropriate question is "how?"
"What do we need to do to be more attentive to these people's needs? What do we do to be more responsive just in case we have an incident? How do we become more compassionate and sensitive to the needs of some folks that may have some form of mental illness?" he said.
He admits that since public universities are in fact public, it is difficult to control movement with an eye toward who belongs there and who does not.
"What's the alternative?" Yeary asks.
To his dismay, Yeary said all that can be done is having adequate support and response systems from a security standpoint.
However, Yeary said much can done before an individual decides to commit horrific acts.
If given the chance to talk to someone experiencing thoughts of such an act, Yeary said he would attempt to ide.jpgy the person's source of pain and work through it positively. As the person works through his or her issues, Yeary said it is important for the person to know he or she is closer to recovery than when problems began.
Presenting an individual with all available resources is another step in the right direction, he said.
Yeary said it is ultimately up to the person to come forward if to determine if there are psychological problems. "The first thing is acknowledgement."
T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-534-1060.
