December 14, 2012 marked the twentieth anniversary of our friends’ murders during a campus shooting. In 1992, the gunman was a gifted eighteen-year-old student who legally purchased a semi-automatic weapon and 200 rounds of ammunition, and proceeded to shoot his way across our campus. He murdered professor Ñacuñán Sáez, Ph.D. and student Galen Gibson. Four additional staff and students were wounded that day, and it is only because his gun jammed that many additional lives were not lost.
The students who survived that day are now around 40 years old; many are parents of school age children. Like the rest of the country, our community is horrified by the Connecticut killings, and feels powerless in the face of such violence. In response, many alumni made donations to the Newtown Youth & Family Services center, a local mental health provider, so that anyone who needs it can get therapeutic help. Collectively, we acknowledge that the way to best deal with trauma is by treating the mental health of those affected.
For twenty years we have witnessed the debate over gun control go nowhere. Now is the time to discuss the entire constellation of issues surrounding the causes of mass murder. We can reduce these instances through a combination of more access to mental health services and less access to weapons. It is currently easier to get a gun than get mental health treatment. We need to help individuals who are hurt, traumatized, and angry so they do not act out their pain with deadly consequences. We must go even further and develop meaningful and effective violence prevention in our communities. We all become victims of the pain caused by such violence and are haunted by the idea that we could have done something if we had acted when the time was right. The time is now.
The undersigned are alumni of Bard College at Simon’s Rock
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Media contact: Max Miller, Los Angeles, CA (310) 666-9754 max@thetwelvefourteen.com
Eli Pariser, Brooklyn, NY
Joshua Muskovitz, Chatham, NY
Prageeta Sharma, Missoula, MT
Stephan Vladimir Bugaj, San Pablo, CA
Devri Ehrlich, Chicago, IL
Kimberley Rivero, Boulder, CO
Caro Crowley, Bellevue, WA
Paul Cox, Alexandria, VA
David Lovely, Chicago, IL
11-20
Patrick McGinley, Räpina, Estonia
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Karen Goodell, Catskill, NY
Wendy Mueller, San Antonio, TX
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Glenn Kirkness, Rochester Hills, MI
Caitlin Xantha von Graf, Mesa, AZ
Minna Bromberg, Reading, PA
Miranda Hambro, San Francisco, CA
Charles Montgomery, Baltimore, MD
21-30
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David Edinger, West Shokan, NY
Susan Finisdore Higgins, Huntsville, AL
Ophelia Austin-Small, East Greenbush, NY
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Paul Makino, Osaka, Japan
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31-40
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Melanie Mills, Crofton, KY
Samantha de la Vega
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B. Ricardo Brown, New York, NY
Joshua Faber, Rochester, NY
Amy Coppage, Brooksville, ME
Candace Baker, Scotch Plains, NJ
Morgan Ziemer, Troy, ME
41-50
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Amy Abbot McDonnell, Trumansburg, NY
Jill Fangmann, St. Cloud, FL
Edward Keller, New York, NY
Eric Allix Rogers, Chicago, IL
Francine Stefancic, Frederick, MD
Sarah O’Connor, Brooklyn, NY
Ross Gourvitz, Brooklyn, NY
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51-60
Evelina Shmukler Burnett, Pass Christian, MS
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Ann E. Braun, Leipers Fork, TN
Glenn M. Peacock, Redwood City, CA
Robert Schork, Yonkers, NY
Aileen Kawabe, Somerville, MA
Joshua Gruber
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Matthew Burch, Atlanta, GA
61-70
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Cathy Coley, Yorktown, VA
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Cordelia Derhammer-Hill, Mamaroneck, NY
Kathleen Notestine Kasdorf, Traverse City, MI
Christopher Derhammer Hill, Mamaroneck, NY
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Nicole Fitting, Brooklyn, NY
Talcott Broadhead, Olympia, WA
71-80
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Luke Solitt, Mt. Pleasant, SC
Cindy J. Speaker, Aurora, NY
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81-90
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91-100
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101-110
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111-120
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131-140
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141-150
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