COD pauses to honor NIU students

Two key words in Northern Illinois University's fight song were repeated Monday as students and faculty at College of DuPage met to remember the five victims of the Feb. 14 shootings on the DeKalb campus.

Forward, together.

School officials reminded those attending the memorial that while both schools share in the pain of the tragedy, they must go on.

"Nobody can prevent that kind of brutality which comes out of nowhere," said Sunil Chand, president of the Glen Ellyn community college.

Those who spoke at Monday's memorial stressed the ties both schools share with students who transfer to the DeKalb school and teachers who work at both campuses.

"Today, we are all Huskies," said Brenda Marcy, president of COD's classified personnel association. "I ask you to keep the school in your thoughts."

Both students and faculty gathered outside the southern end of the Student Resource Center building for a short moment of silence before releasing five red- and black-colored balloons in honor of the five shooting victims killed at Cole Hall.

For Greg Hughes, a COD maintenance worker, the memorial had special significance.

His grandson, Troy Hughes, was one of the students shot on Feb. 14.

Hughes recalled the events of that day, from the moment he first learned of the shooting while driving home from work to calling his daughter to find out whether his grandson was near Cole Hall.

"Things moved fast from the time of the shootings," Hughes said. "But Troy will be OK. He was planning on going back to school today."