This past weekend, the Mississippi State University community has been drawn together by a tragedy. First of all, the staff at The Reflector would like to offer its sincerest condolences to the friends and family of the victim. It is a loss felt throughout campus, losing one of our own, and no one feels the loss as great as those who personally knew the victim. Time will help heal the hurt felt now, but his loved ones will never forget John Sanderson, who lost his life much too soon at the age of 21.
The feeling of security and safety was seemingly shattered on Saturday night, but only for a moment. A call for police assistance was made at 9:54 p.m., and police were on the scene by 9:55 p.m. That remarkable reaction time and commitment to serving campus should make students and faculty feel secure that if tragedy does strike, response time will be minimal. Maroon Alerts were sent out to subscribers about 40 minutes after help arrived on the scene, even though it may have taken longer to reach the phones, since there are tens of thousands of people receiving Maroon Alerts. Crimes are not the fault of campus, campus security or faculty, but the response does show the skill and care the university has put into its emergency planning.
Not all people are good, but it is comforting to know that sometimes the good of some, like campus security and faculty, can make the difference between allowing a crime to occur and allowing it to unrail the safety of an entire campus. While Saturday’s incident unfortunately did end in fatality, the campus can rest assured that we are the top priority of those who have made it their careers to protect and serve. We would like to thank the MSU faculty, police and security for providing such a safe environment that even when tragedy does strike, it does not shake our faith in those who have the power to restore order. Without these individuals, we as a community would be much weaker than we are today.
In 2007, the Virginia Tech shooting shocked people worldwide, but its response time in letting students know resulted in a negligence charge, and VA Tech ultimately had to pay a $55,000 fine. VA Tech waited about two hours to let campus know of the danger. Comparitively, MSU took about 40 minutes. Additionally, MSU let us know the perpetrator was still at large. It sent us updates on suspect leads, vehicle color and model and the condition of the victim. So let us remember that out of tragedy can we sometimes see the silver lining of unshakeable strength, resilience and compassion..
 
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Wendy Morell, news editor Micah Green, news editor Megan McKeown, sports editor James Carskadon, life editor Kaitlin Mullins, photo editor Jay Johnson, copy editors Kaitlyn Byrne and Mollie C. Reeves, multimedia editor Eric Evans, chief designer Zack Orsborn, managing editor Julia Pendley and Editor in Chief Hannah Rogers.