Keep the Faculty Members In Your Thoughts Too

Although the shooting at Virginia Tech University has a devestating impact on students, there has been word that faculty members were also part of the casualties today. And, for the most part, the media had streams of students they interviewed interlaced with professional opinions by criminologists and psychologists. The story is not done here by any means. But while it is being sorted out, the faculty cannot be forgotten in the flurry of coverage in the next few days.

Faculty members have a tough job in today's universities. Not only do they have to write articles; they also have to sit on committees, conduct classes and engage in other duties that fill their time leading up to tenured security. Tenure is much harder to obtain these days. The hoops they have to jump through seem almost insurmountable, especially when dealing with the politics within departments.

And with papers to grade, they have a lot on their plate under the "perish or publish" threat that seems to occur semester after semester, year in and year out.

Students sometimes do not think about how hard their professors have to work. And in times like what happened today, the faculty have had to not only deal with their own emotions on this terrible day, they also have to face the residual effects of what has happened to their students. They suffer just as much as their students do. In fact, they might suffer more as people who are responsible for molding the future workforce and leaders of tomorrow.

The sad thing is the fact that sometimes students view their professors as the "bad guy" because of a decision about a paper, test or final. Because the faculty is responsible for making hard decisions that might have drastic effects on their students, they in turn have to deal with the repercussions and often wonder about them. This is also mixed in with the pressure to be a good "role model" for those under their tutledge.

In the guise of the student, it is not easy for them to think along these lines about their professor--especially if they run things in a strict manner. But, they are people too. They suffered today as well as the students did. Some of the stories that came out today demonstrated that some tried to protect their students from the alleged gunman. And although none had been interviewed--as of yet--they took on a yeoman's task today in order to keep their students safe in the name of survival.

So, it is best to take a little time and think about the faculty today in the midst of the headlines. They do a hard job every day. And today, they had to do an exceptional job under tough circumstances.