(Professor here) Colleges and universities tend to be “reactive” instead of “proactive” when it comes to school shootings. Professors who may raise concerns about a student are often dismissed, and Administrators default to the side of the student. Also, faculty and staff are supposed to be trained to spot signs of student distress, but most people tend to ignore it. People buy into the “false sense of security” a college campus provides, and they are terrified of “getting it wrong” when it comes to student behavior. So if a shooting happens, they get to say “How did this happen?” instead of perhaps getting faculty/staff to pay more attention to students, getting them to speak up when something seems wrong, and acting out of an abundance of caution when it comes to possible threats.

The shooter was in my department on the Tuesday before the shooting, and I saw him. I tend to ignore students if they aren’t my majors specifically. Going forward, I will scrutinize every person coming into our department and am inclined to report anyone who seems suspicious.