College students shouldn't die.
They should wear pajamas to class and the hottest new outfits to go out at night, but they shouldn't die.
They should stay up too late having conversations with their roommate and pull all-nighters at the last minute to get that paper done, but they shouldn't die.
They should drink a little too much when they probably shouldn't be to explore boundaries and challenge the rules they were brought up with, but they shouldn't die.
They should take road trips, cut class to go to the mall, eat Ramen noodles and consider it a meal, and be broke, but they should NEVER die.
College students should fall in love and get their hearts broken and fall in love all over again, but they shouldn't die.
They should make a late-night run for ice cream when they really should be studying and procrastinate homework for Facebook, but they shouldn't die.
They should go out in the middle of winter without a coat and wear flip flops at the first sign of Spring in March, but they shouldn't die.
They should spend a summer in a foreign country using a language they barely know, but they shouldn't die.
They should "borrow" silverwear and cups from the dining hall to furnish their room, but they shouldn't die.
They should get pierced but not by bullets and pranked but not bullied, and they should never die.
What happened this week at Seton Hall University and Rutgers University is gut-wrenching. There's no excuse for it, and no one deserved what they got. Familes, friends, and complete strangers are heart-broken. University administrators and faculty are overwhelmed by counseling needs and forgetting their own. Students are scared. There's a lot of things college students do, that, as adults, we know they probably shouldn't and would prefer they didn't, but one thing's for certain: they shouldn't die.
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