On the recordFebruary 14, 2011
3 years ago today, a mentally disturbed gunman walked into a campus lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and shot 22 students, killing 5 of them. John Peters, the president of Northern Illinois University, the students, families, faculty, and employees pulled together after that tragedy, and I joined them at an observance with then Senator and now President Obama to acknowledge the grief they all felt and we shared. I am proud to report that the Northern Illinois University community is stronger and more resilient today than ever. In the aftermath of the shooting, we asked a lot of questions about what led to it. Naturally, there were so many innocent victims. We asked what we could have done to prevent it. Three years later, we are still trying to make sense of it. Some believe that nothing can be done if a disturbed person is determined to commit an act of violence. But I believe something can be done. For a long time, we have overlooked a very obvious and very compelling fact. Many young people do not demonstrate serious mental illness until they have left their home and high school and go off to college.
