NIU marks three years as students move on

In 2008, in the weeks following the Valentine's Day shooting at Northern Illinois University, leaders on the DeKalb campus spoke of returning to the “new normal.”

Now, almost three years later, normal is not so new anymore.

The attack that claimed the lives of five students and wounded at least 19 other students and staff members left an indelible mark on everyone who was on campus at the time.

Now, only one undergraduate class remains — the seniors — who experienced the tragedy firsthand.

Cole Hall, the site of the attack and perhaps the most potent symbol of the tragedy, soon will be transformed beyond recognition.

NIU has started to renovate the building, which has been closed since the shooting, and intends to replace most of the lecture hall where the shooting took place with an anthropology museum and computer lab.

But even as the visual reminders of the shooting disappear and thousands of students have now left campus, university officials say it is important to commemorate Feb. 14, 2008 — for those on campus who still remember and as part of the healing process for the NIU community spread around the world.

“Part of the healing process is recognition of the event,” said Kelly Wesener, assistant vice president for student services. “Although time passes and we continue to heal, that event still stands as significant to people who were on campus at the time.

“It's important to educate all students coming in about the history of an institution. This is part of our history.”

At 3 p.m. Monday, the university will host “NIU Remembers: A Day of Reflection.” University President John Peters will join the families of the five victims for a short procession from the college commons to the memorial garden.

Peters, whose eloquent speeches after the tragedy helped unite the campus, will make a short address. A wreath will be laid at each of the five memorial stones. A reception will follow in the Holmes Student Center.

For many of the seniors and graduate students who were on campus in 2008, Monday's ceremony will be their last opportunity to reflect on the tragedy near the building where it happened.

Dave Thomas, newly minted editor-in-chief of the Northern Star, the NIU student newspaper, was just a cub reporter when shots rang out in Cole Hall. Thomas, now a senior, was in a history lecture across campus when he heard the news.

“I rushed over to the ‘Star,'” he recalls. “I went inside to grab a notebook. I didn't have one. In my rush to get (to Cole Hall) … I grabbed a series of sticky notes.”

Thomas, one of the few remaining Northern Star staff members who was around for the shooting, spent an hour and a half on the scene, interviewing fellow students while calling friends and family to let them know he was all right.

While he had already decided on a career in journalism, Thomas said the experience of covering the shooting brought his reasons into sharper focus.

“It magnifies the importance of what you're doing,” the West Chicago High School graduate said. “People wanted information, and we were on the front lines of that. And we had to be accurate because the stakes are really high. You have to get it right.”

A lot has changed since Thomas rushed to Cole Hall with his notebook and pen. The attack, and revelations of the shooter's history of mental health issues, have led to greater sensitivity and awareness around mental health and violence, students and staff members said.

“The stigma around mental health has decreased,” said Micky Sharma, executive director of the counseling and student development center. “We see much more of people treating counseling as another supportive service the university offers.”

Sharma said his office saw a 20 percent increase in student walk-ins in the fall of 2010 compared to one year earlier.

“That's a direct response to the work they did in response to 2/14,” Wesener said. “When there's a community member who sees a student who might be in a crisis … there is an awareness of the services available … and a willingness to direct students there.”

Tyler Hendry, an NIU freshman and 2010 Hampshire High School graduate, arrived too late to notice the changes on campus. But his brother was on campus during the attack, and Hendry remembers the day vividly.

“He was a freshman,” Hendry recalls. “I just got out of basketball practice. One of my coaches told me. When I got home, my mom had the TV on. She was freaking out. She couldn't get ahold of him because all of the phone lines were shut down. My brother was out to lunch. His phone suddenly got 15 messages. He called my mom to tell her he was OK. It was an hour or two later.”

Hendry says the memory of 2/14 is more distant for him than for his brother and others who were in DeKalb on that day. But he says it's still a part of his identity and the university's shared heritage.

“Even though I wasn't on campus … now that I am a Huskie, it's part of the Huskies' history,” Hendry said. “I do believe it's something important to look back on as part of NIU's history, but I don't believe it's as strong of a memory as my brother's.”

Nicole Navigato, an NIU freshman and 2010 graduate of Algonquin's Jacobs High School, didn't know anyone who attended NIU when she heard of the attack. Still, she said, the tragedy has brought the Huskies together — including new students like her.

“It means something to all of us,” Navigato said. “It's part of our culture at the school here. It's kind of …glue. It's something we all relate to.”

Even after the Class of 2011 graduates, the memories of 2/14 will forever be seared into the minds of the students who were there.

Amid the excitement of covering the biggest story of his career as a student journalist, Thomas remembers when his editor-in-chief at the time, John Puterbaugh, informed the newsroom that Dan Parmenter, who worked in the Northern Star's advertising department, was one of victims.

“It was hard to work after that,” Thomas said. “It's a lot harder when one of your own was gone. It just took all the energy out of me. What do you tell a newsroom when one of your friends, one of your co-workers, is dead?”

Parmenter's picture is still up in the advertising department. His mailbox is still in the mailroom.

Says Thomas: “I didn't know him, and now I will never get the chance.

“Where do you go from there?”