Trag·e·dy [ˈtrajədē] NOUN
an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe.
What happened this Sunday at Binghamton University is a hell of an example of a tragedy. Last Sunday, April 14, 19-year-old engineering student, Joao Souza, was stabbed to death on campus in his dorm room.
The unfathomable happened for the second time in five weeks here at Binghamton University.
Just over a month ago a 22-year-old nursing student, Haley Anderson, was found dead in an apartment off campus. As a freshman who lived in the building next to Joao, this really hit home, especially because my roommate and best friend went to high school with him. I had only met him once or twice at a party, and although I didn't know him on a personal level at all, I know he did not deserve this. Neither of them did.
As someone who has also experienced a freak tragedy in my life, I know these things are never expected and are never easy to deal with.
One minute your life is going (somewhat) as planned and the next thing you know your whole world has been shattered to pieces. Joao's parents lost a son, his sister lost a brother, and Binghamton University as a whole lost an important member of our community. I cannot even express how devastating the news was and has continued to be for my friends, myself, and everyone at the school. The presence on campus is dark, depressing, and will have a rippling effect for a long time.
But like I said, this was not anticipated and truly was something you can't plan for.
There is almost no way the administration and school could have prevented this from happening. I wish nothing more than for there to have been a way to stop this, but I can't think of anything that could have been done. Joao did nothing wrong. No one saw this coming.
This being said, it angers me to see and hear about parents wanting to remove their child from the university and others who refuse to let their child come here in the future.
This could have happened at any other institution and it has. Binghamton is not the only place to have students fall victim to horrific circumstances. The amount of comments I have seen on Facebook, Twitter, or news pages bashing the University and not even offering their condolences is surreal. It breaks my heart that people can be so insensitive and cruel. I am proud to be a student here and a member of this community. I have never felt unsafe on this campus. And even when they were searching for the suspect, I knew that the university was doing everything it could to investigate and protect us.
I love my school.
If you ask me, the administration has been wicked helpful and understanding during this period of mourning. As always, they have offered plenty of counseling services and have exempt many affected students from classes this week.
If you are thinking about attending school here in the future, please do not let this affect your decision, and please remember to say a prayer for the Souza family tonight.
