Solutions difficult but still imperative

As a current college student at the University of Illinois, it is sad that I find myself walking to class questioning where I should sit to ensure my best chance at survival in case something goes wrong.

This leads me to wonder, what can be done?

As NIU President John Peters stated, "We did everything we could to ensure the safety of this university. … Nothing is perfect, but I believe it did work."

Peters claims that it could have been worse if not for the emergency alert system. Yet for those families who lost their children, how much worse could it have gotten?

The reality is that thousands of students attend class every day and are essentially sitting ducks in rows of cluttered classroom seats with no defense if some troubled kid comes in with the intent to kill.

The alert systems have improved, but they do not work to prevent the shootings in the first place.

Because of this, the responsibility falls to policy makers and educational institutions to prevent such acts from the beginning.

Schools should consider hiring armed security guards in classrooms or installing metal detectors in buildings.

Policy makers should additionally focus on creating stricter gun control laws to keep guns out of the hands of troubled teenagers.

Accepting that there is no foolproof way to stop incidents like these from happening is not adequate. The lives of our students and faculties are worth protecting, so coming up with a solution is imperative.

Jessica Levitt

Champaign