Via the Bearcat Bulletin, President Thorsett shared the following message with the campus community:
Dear Willamette Community,
Last week, we were shocked by the news of horrific violence at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg that left nine students and faculty dead and many more injured. As I know is true of many of you, I am at a loss for how to make sense of what happened, or to find a commensurate response. For now, perhaps, it is all we can do to reflect on the lives of the individuals who died, who were teachers and learners like us, students in their first days of college class and staff at the end of long careers, and to recommit ourselves to the possibility of positive change in the world.
Tomorrow morning, Thursday, at 11 am, a week from the moment the Umpqua shootings ended, I'd like to ask the whole Willamette community to observe a minute of silence. At that time we will toll the bell outside Waller Hall nine times, for the nine who died, as a symbol of our own solidarity with the Roseburg and Umpqua communities.
Non nobis solum,
Steve Thorsett
President
Willamette University