NIU staff back, prepared to 'keep going'

Northern Illinois University is adjusting to a "new normal."

Tuesday morning, faculty and staff got a look at it as they returned to the DeKalb campus for the first time since a gunman killed five students and wounded at least 16 others in a lecture hall before committing suicide Thursday.

To prepare instructors for the questions students might ask, the university has brought in grief counselors, including experts from Virginia Tech, the site of the worst campus shooting in U.S. history.

"Faculty need to be aware of their own emotions," said Christopher Flynn, director of Virginia Tech's counseling center. "For many of them, it's a sincere loss. We at Virginia Tech talk about the 'new normal.' Grief continues for a long period of time. Grief takes at least a year to go through that cycle."

English professor David Gorman's building looks onto Cole Hall, where the shootings occurred.

"I'm going to have to spend the rest of my career looking at it," he said. "(But) I intend to soldier on. My reaction to this is, 'Let's keep going.' "

Since the tragedy, Gorman said he's been troubled by a sense in media coverage that "there's a script we have to follow where tragedy turns into triumph." But the reality is, "there's not a script to follow," he explained."

Counselors said NIU instructors will need to help students readjust to the daily grind of campus life.

"People recover more quickly by getting back to their normal routines and life," said Jon Perry, director of counseling at the University of Arkansas, where a gunman killed a student in 2000.

Perry said instructors he talked to were most worried about their ability to effectively do their jobs while dealing with grieving students and their own emotions.

"There's always concern that something like this will be so overwhelming that they can't do their job well," Perry said.

Counselors said they used the recovery of their own university communities to give NIU instructors hope.

"One of the lasting residues has been a heightened sense of community and togetherness," Perry said about the University of Arkansas.

The university has scheduled seminars with counsel-ors from universities across the country through Thursday for its 1,200 faculty members and 1,000 staff members.

Instructors said this week's training will help them understand and respond to students' emotions.

When classes resume Monday, 300 volunteer counselors from universities throughout the country will be in each classroom to provide support for students and refer them to campus resources.

NIU art professor Frank Trankina said he and his colleagues expect they'll be dealing with students with friends who were injured or died.

Writing instructor John Ireland said he purposely stayed away from the university for several days but now, "I want to walk by Cole Hall. I look forward to returning to normalcy and to healing."

Faculty members said the training Tuesday was useful, but they're still not sure what to expect.

"I'm going to wait and see what happens," Trankina said

Many people found the campus unnaturally quiet Tuesday. Cold sunshine fell on the impromptu memorials of flowers and stuffed animals, warming those who braved freezing temperatures to sign a commemorative banner.

Messages inscribed included, "We will never forget," and "We will not let darkness overcome light."

Assistant journalism professor Sabryna Cornish bent down and wrote, "May we mourn together and heal." Asked about her state of mind, she said, "I'm fine ... but those poor parents."

Ann Pellican, an NIU captionist who transcribes lectures for hearing-impaired students, gathered with co-workers to place carnations in front of Cole Hall.

"My main concern is for the safety of the students," she said. But she acknowledged going into a lecture hall like the one where the shooter opened fire will be difficult.

"That will really bother me," she said.

Her companions, sign-language interpreters Jennifer Seales and Jenny Melton, said they realize it could have been them standing at the front of the classroom when shots rang out.

But they're gathering strength from each other.

"Coming back and meeting with my co-workers, that's therapy," Melton said.

Students were also adjusting to the new atmosphere.

"It's been tough," said junior Kristina Serewicz of St. Charles. "I've been trying to keep busy and talk to a lot of people and just be there for anyone who wants to talk."

Some university staffers said helping students will be a start to healing their wounds.

"You can't put your mind around it. But we're got to try to start to regroup," said Hillard Hebda, who works with the campus' Access program that offers tutoring.

"Yesterday and all weekend, I felt helpless," Hebda said. "I'm ready to come back."