Dear Parents,

With the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech I feel compelled to share my perspective with you as parents of our students. First I'd like to express my heartfelt sympathy to the family, friends and Virginia Tech community for their tremendous loss. I've found myself reflecting since I heard about the tragedy about the grief and anxiety experienced in the Virginia Tech community and the ripple affect it has on all of us. I'm certain you as parents have had similar thoughts and perhaps carried those thoughts to the safety of your own family and precarious nature of life. So I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss a few things we can do from a parent and university perspective.

As parents and mentors, there are a few things you can do:

• Share your concerns, hopes and expectations. Talk with your student as often as needed. You may find that he or she wants more contact with family at this time, and that is normal. Simply listen.
• Encourage your student to express his or her feelings about the incident. Provide support, realizing that all feelings are legitimate.
• Reassure your student that strong feelings after a tragedy are not uncommon. You might ask, "It must have been so upsetting to hear about the shootings at Virginia Tech."
• Acknowledge that being away from home may be disconcerting at this time; your student may have never experienced this form of anxiety previously.
• Consider asking, "Are you worried about anything at this point?" This will give your student the opportunity to express any particular fears.
• Encourage your student to seek support from fellow students. Advise your student to be alert to campus communications and familiar with emergency procedures on campus.
• If your student needs to talk with a professional, suggest that he or she visit the Counseling and Testing Center in 112 Wilder Hall.
• Tell your children you love them and share your dreams.
• Make yourself aware of campus and community resources and share with your young adult.

Let me share with you what the University has done:

• We've acknowledged the significance of the event and extended our counseling resources to students.
• We've had many conversations with students and provided venues to reflect.
• Our student government has sponsored a memorial wreath in the center of campus at the Hoeschler Clock Tower. We've encouraged students to pause and reflect.
• We've sent messages to our international and diversity organizations supporting them. Unfortunately these tragic situations leave people seeking answers and when the media has promoted an international connection our students experience generalized actions of association and retribution. We need to acknowledge and educate our population that an individual's actions should not be generalized to a population or culture at large.
• We have an emergency response plan in place. This plan includes actions from Campus Police, Residence Life, Student Life, Health and Wellness responses and communication. You may review our emergency response plan at http://www.uwlax.edu/police/emerg.htm.

This tragic event offers us the opportunity to review these plans and ensure they are broadly communicated. I appreciate your concern and support as we respond to these events and welcome your suggestions or comments.

Sincerely,
Paula M. Knudson, Ph.D.
Dean of Student Development and Academic Services