UC Merced campus starts healing process after stabbing spree

Staff and administrators at UC Merced prepared to restart classes Friday, two days after a student stabbed four people in an anger-fueled rampage. But officials said that wouldn’t mean that everything was back to normal.

“Incidents like this change all of us,” said Charles Nies, UC Merced’s interim vice chancellor of student affairs. “We’re all impacted in different ways, so we anticipate to make sense of what that means for each of us individually, but then also collectively, as a community, as we try to heal.”

Sixteen counselors from different UC campuses are providing psychological services to students, faculty and staff at UC Merced, according to campus officials. Nies said counselors offered help all day Thursday and would also be available Friday and through the weekend.

Counselors will meet with people who may have been impacted directly by the attack, or who will interact with those affected, including faculty, staff and resident advisers, Nies said.

Counselors also have done direct calling to those who were immediately involved in the situation, he said.

“We know students are affected by this in different ways,” Nies said. “We got the support here from our colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who, unfortunately, went through the tragic shooting incident on their campus (in 2014). They’re bringing their knowledge and experience with them, and that is helping us to make sure that we are providing the direct services to students.”

Nies said the counseling centers at the 10 UC schools have a mutual agreement to respond when crises strike on different campuses. “That’s where we reach out to first for support,” he said, adding that help has been offered from across the state.

Chancellor Dorothy Leland said in a news conference that the focus now is to rebuild students’ confidence.

“This incident is not at all characteristic of the climate on our campus,” Leland said. The chancellor also expressed concern over the growing trend of violence on school campuses.

“It’s something that, as a culture and society, we need to pay attention to,” Leland told reporters Wednesday.

Witnessing such an incident can have lingering effects, especially if left untreated, said Martha Whitfield, a mental health aide at Santa Monica College.

The Southern California college was the site of a shooting rampage in June 2013 that left five dead and several wounded.

Whitfield said such experiences can lead to anxiety, panic attacks, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. If left untreated, such conditions can mean physical health problems in the long run, she said.

Whitfield, who witnessed parts of the attack at Santa Monica College, said she sought help and that it took her about two years to heal.

“It takes time,” Whitfield said. “There will be times when you’re fine, but later on something can remind you (of the incident) and trigger a reaction.”

Seeking treatment, she said, speeds and eases the recovery process.

Whitfield said students could also see their academic focus interrupted. After the 2013 shooting in Santa Monica, she said, some students chose not to return to school.

“It affects everyone on a different level,” she said.

UC Merced officials are also reminding students who did not receive the alert texts during the incident Wednesday morning to update their emergency contact information.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "UC Merced campus starts healing process after stabbing spree."