Gessert, a Virginia native and MSU alumnus, was at a funeral reception for his ex-girlfriend when he first heard the news of the campus shootings that left 33 dead at Virginia Tech University one year ago.

At first, Gessert said his mind couldn’t register what happened, but after he snapped out of the shock, he rushed to contact friends.

“Since I went to high school in Virginia, many of the people I knew attended Virginia Tech,” he said. “I was just praying that all of the people that I knew were safe.”

All of his friends were OK physically, Gessert said, but the emotional strain was intense.

“The biggest concern was for that first person that I tried to call, since I knew she was an EMT and that she had most of her classes in that area of the campus,” he said. “When I was finally able to talk to her, I had found out that she knew many of the victims and had spent most of that day in the ambulance.

“I just tried to let her know as best as possible that if she needed anything, that I’d be there for her.”

Being there

Providing comfort to the community was the first step university officials took upon hearing news of the tragedy, MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said.

“Your first response is, as human beings, wanting to reach out to others on and off campus, and to make sure our campus community had all the counseling and abilities to express grief and concern they needed,” Denbow said.

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said the tragedy alerted university officials across the country to immediately review their security measures.

The university’s emergency response information already had been compiled, she said, but the next step was to update MSU’s Web site to package the information in one place.

“In response to Virginia Tech, we made an effort to be more transparent,” Simon said.

A new approach

MSU’s emergency response approach strengthened at the beginning of fall 2007 semester, when the university debuted a new emergency text-messaging system.

Denbow said the program is designed to notify subscribers of all emergency situations on campus.

“We target the messages by audience and content,” he said. “That’s why the text-message system is based on very few words. ‘Stay there, leave there immediately,’”

Aside from a severe weather alert in October, the only other time the text-messaging system has been used was in November, when firecrackers were set off in Berkey Hall and about 100 students evacuated the building.

Psychology senior Elizabeth O’Malley suffered a radial head fracture, which is an elbow injury, after exiting Berkey Hall through a first-floor classroom window, and she said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.

“It affects school, work and anything I want to do in general,” she said. “I’m afraid of large crowds. It’s sticking with me a little bit more than I wanted it to or thought it would.”

Not the end

Threats to college students haven’t ended with Virginia Tech.

In February, a gunman killed five students on the campus of Northern Illinois University before taking his own life.

More recently, Oakland University canceled all university activity Sunday and Monday after threatening messages referred to a possible campus attack Monday, said Ted Montgomery, media relations director for Oakland.

Oakland resumed classes Tuesday.

Montgomery said the tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois weren’t far from university officials’ minds when they made the decision to close campus early Sunday morning.

“I think you have to absolutely be on the cautious side,” he said.

“I’m sure (Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois) didn’t think it could happen there, either.”