SEAHO Report - Summer 2024 - 42

The administration did the best they could. I know now that Grimm and Dunkle were probably 'winging it' in
their response, as campus active shooters were not a thing then and serial killings are more rare still today.
Who planned for that type of crisis in 1990? The letters to the community, the concentration of national
media to just the Plaza of the Americas and the " optional classes for a week " were solid calls. Our emergency
co-op officer meetings and RA meetings all muddle together in memory.
I even remember nailing my first floor windows shut! My hall director was
comforting and my residents got a stern dressing down after they propped
a door open! Other memories stand out, my family, upset I didn't come
home, and my history professor skipping ahead to serial killers on the crime
and corruption syllabi. My own sense of security hasn't been the same since,
and I occasionally lock my husband out of the house when he takes out
the recycling. But, what I learned from that UF team has served me well.
Communication and care can go a long way in a crisis.
During my undergraduate career, I also experienced protests of the first gulf war, the OJ Simpson trial,
and the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots. I learned from my classmates, my faculty and the
administrators. We were encouraged to express our feelings, encouraged to ask for help, and as RAs we were
encouraged to hold space for people who were experiencing these crises differently than we did. I want to
thank Norb Dunkel and Pam Schreiber specifically for helping me learn to listen and teaching me those basic
active listening skills at RA training.
In my first professional Housing and Residence Life position, when America
had to confront the hatred behind the Matthew Shepard tragedy, I leaned
into those skills and tried to hold space for others. Advising the campus
LGBT organization and being over the hall where a majority of theater
students lived made this loss of life even harder for my students. Their fear
and sadness needed an outlet. I was part of the planning for The University
of Evansville candle-light vigil we held. We provided space for residents to
come together: they shared their fear, their anger and sadness.
Experiencing the serial killings at University of Florida had provided me with
insight to support people whose world was upside down. I didn't know in '97
how often I would need to return to those skills.
In graduate school while at Florida State University, the Oklahoma City bombing (Memorial pictured to the
left) again changed how we see spaces that used to be safe.
In my first few years at Georgia Tech, the plane attacks of 9-11 happened and
campus needed to heal. Our international RAs from the Middle East were
forced into interviews with immigration officials downtown. So we hosted an
event with our International Student and Scholars administrators' the local
Imam, to help reduce fears.
How were we to help?
Hatred, fear, campus shootings, police brutality, suicide rates and the frequency of national tragedy requires
our community to come together. The lessons from the 1989 and 1990 RA training still hold true. From my
perspective the best thing we can do is to listen and hold space.
* We need to continue to make space for each other
* We need to lift up the voices of those most impacted.
* I have learned that if someone's experience is different from mine, the best thing I can do is to simply
believe their experience.
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https://www.matthewshepard.org/

SEAHO Report - Summer 2024

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