President Peters,
In light of the tragic events at Northern Illinois University last
week, please accept my condolences on behalf of the Monmouth College
campus.
Our local newspaper's coverage included the headline "Close to home."
The fact that this occurred right here in Illinois is certainly not lost
on me or the rest of our campus community.
Additionally, we have several Monmouth-area students enrolled at NIU,
and I thought you would be proud of the comments that one of them made
to our newspaper.
He said, "I've always felt totally safe here. I still feel safe ... I
think that it's a good thing that people haven't become so jaded that
they are abandoning Northern. It's a school I really enjoy and I really
like DeKalb. Just because someone had to do something awful, there's no
reason to send my life in upheaval."
My hope and prayer is that the spirit conveyed in his words will be
the spirit shared by the vast majority of your students, faculty and
staff. We all believe that NIU will recover from this tragic, tragic
event and will continue to serve as an outstanding institution of higher
learning in our wonderful state.
Sincerely,
Mauri A. Ditzler
President, Monmouth College
