NIU faculty begin training on how to help students cope

Faculty members at Northern Illinois University are undergoing training about how to help students cope with the aftermath of last week's campus shooting.

Faculty, graduate assistants and some staff will meet in groups of 50 to talk about last week's shooting spree that killed five students. The gunman -- a former NIU student -- later turned the gun on himself.

The training will continue all week while classes are canceled.

Micky Sharma is director of NIU's counseling and student development center. He says the training will help faculty cope with the shooting and also coach them on how to deal with grieving students when classes resume on Monday.

About 300 volunteer counselors will come to campus next week and many will be paired with professors and work in classrooms.