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A student shouldn't have been killed in a dorm.

​The death of the student at Lincoln University has me feeling pretty down. As a parent who had a child at the school, I feel incredibly sad about the situation. The fact that a student lost his life in a dormitory is pretty upsetting. To know that there was a fight that precipitated the death in the dorm hall, that non-students were involved and allegedly stabbed individuals at will in the dorm has me feeling uneasy all around. A dormitory on campus is supposed to be safe. The thing that really bothers me is the perception of safety is lost. It is bothering me because as a Black counselor who sends students to this particular institution yearly, as a mother who sent her child to the school it saddens me to know that this type of behavior happens frequently often going unchecked and that it seems as if the life of a black male student is not as valuable.


I kept checking news channels to see what the coverage would be like for this young man who was killed, because he was from Philadelphia. A few months ago there was a Temple University student that was unfortunately killed right off campus during an carjacking incident. I can tell you his name, where he’s from, what his major was. I can tell you about his part-time job, about his internship. I can tell you that he was graduating this May. I can tell you about his family, what high school he went to and I can also tell you that his killer was caught within 72 hours. I cannot tell you anything about the young man that was killed at Lincoln University last week who also was from Philadelphia and it saddens me. I don’t know what part saddens me more. There are just so many pieces to this story that have been bothering me over and over again. Being a counselor and having to answer questions from students who had the school on their list, being a mother who just recently transferred from the school who is saddened because she knew the young man, being a Philadelphian knowing that this young man isn’t even getting any press after he passed. 


I don’t know if it’s a black-white issue, if it’s a rich-poor issue if it’s a PWI-HBCU issue. I do know that three students were stabbed at Lincoln University this week, one student died. It was 9:30 at night, they were in their dormitory and a vicious fight broke out which resulted in death where outsiders were allowed to enter campus and participate. This situation hurts me and I have been praying and meditating on it. 


I think what saddens me the most is that this will be another incident that is brushed over in the array of traumatic events that have been transpiring as of late and that makes me incredibly sad.

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