On the afternoon of October 5, 2022, Dr. Thomas Meixner, head of the University of Arizona’s Department of Hydrology, was shot dead in his office by a deranged former graduate student.

It follows a murder on another campus in Indiana (where a Purdue student stabbed his roommate to death) and around the same time that 36 children and adults were massacred at an orphanage in Thailand. As it occurred, Meixner’s murder never received national attention.

Nor did the university consider it necessary to cancel classes the next day. Instead, the president sent an email saying he found it “surreal” to be on campus. He offered his condolences, announced his Candle Night, and directed traumatized communities to tap into counseling resources.

“The show must go on,” anthropology professor Victor Breitberg wrote in an op-ed criticizing the university’s response, or lack thereof. It’s just part of life in the 21st century, where murder is the norm.”

Unfortunately, the University of Arizona’s response to Meixner’s murder exemplifies America’s failure to address the problem of gun violence on campus and elsewhere. The “Run, Hide, Fight” alert sent to students at Michigan State University during the latest school shooting on February 13 is helping our society protect students and teachers from school killings. Another example of the apparent abandonment of the pretense of .

The problem is particularly acute in Arizona, where gun laws are lax, school funding and student performance are among the lowest in the nation, and the state legislature is more intimidated by critical racial theories than by gun violence. I am interested in

In March, state Republican lawmakers sought to make schools even more dangerous by passing a bill that legalized silencers and allowed parents with concealed carry permits to bring guns onto K-12 campuses. Thankfully, as long as Democrat Katie Hobbs remains in office, these bills are unlikely to become law.

But Tom Horn, who was recently elected to a third term as superintendent of public education in Arizona (when Horn was superintendent from 2003 to 2011, he was the leader in the education of Mexican Americans in Tucson schools). ) is also taking steps to point more guns. campus. “They don’t shoot police stations,” Horn said after announcing plans to redirect funds previously directed to hiring counselors to hiring school safety officers instead.

Unfortunately, the problem with public education in Arizona isn’t just more police officers and fewer counselors. The state legislature has repeatedly underfunded public schools and tried to block public initiatives aimed at funding schools, and he has launched one of the most generous and least-monitored school voucher programs in the country. established.

As for preventing violence by identifying and deterring dangerous individuals, police and other authorities at the University of Arizona have since made numerous threats of violence to Meixner’s killer, nearly a year before his murder. It became clear that he knew that But other than expelling him, barring him from campus, and reporting the threats to the Pima County attorney’s office, they did little to protect the target of his wrath.

One assistant dean was very afraid to work from home after being threatened by this person. Another professor who made the mistake of befriending him went so far as to install a home security door and buy a bulletproof vest. I knew that,” he said.

Those fighting for education in Arizona must wage a relentless battle on several fronts, including adequately funding public schools.

In the meantime, the only advice civil servants can offer is advice such as fleeing, ducking, hiding, getting trauma counseling, and wearing a bulletproof vest if someone threatens you. At your own expense, of course.

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About the lighter

Miriam Davidson is the author of “The Beloved Border: Humanity and Hope in a Contested Land” (University of Arizona Press, 2021). This column is written for Progressive Perspectives, run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by the Tribune News Service.

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