Brigitte Bowers: UC Merced students speak out on campus attack

The conventional wisdom is that we never believe violence can happen to us until it does, but this has never been true for me.

I am perhaps too vigilant, hyper-aware always, that bad things are liable to break out at any moment, even in the most peaceful of places. I do not like to mention this, since I also harbor a vague feeling that to actually vocalize my fears is to invite their manifestation, as though there is some malevolent supreme being floating around in space, just waiting for a good suggestion to incite horror below.

So when Faisal Mohammad went on his violent spree Nov. 4, I was surprised only that so many people seemed to think that it couldn’t happen at UC Merced.

And as all of the trauma began to subside and the UC Merced community returned to a semblance of normalcy, I was once again not surprised.

I have, in my four years at UC Merced, witnessed time and time again the absolute dignity and goodwill of students.

During those years, I have heard various citizens of Merced – some downtown merchants, various Merced business owners and a few of my friends – criticize UC Merced students for being boorish, destructive and haughty. This is undoubtedly true of some students, just as it is undeniably true that every group will have a few unpleasant people in it.

But last week, students at UC Merced displayed unity and intelligence in a carefully considered but heartfelt response to the campus tragedy. Only hours after the stabbings and shooting, students showed the nation that they are a classy group of kids.

For the most part, they let their actions speak for them. They held a vigil, they escorted each other across the bridge where Faisal Mohammad was shot and killed, and they tied blue and gold ribbons around the campus. Some witnesses and the campus Islamic club also spoke eloquently to the press.

My own freshman composition students wrote about that day for their weekly journal assignment, responding to Chancellor Dorothy Leland’s assertion that “we live in a culture of violence.” I am sharing their words today in this column.

I include Gurtaj Gurai’s response first because it is representative of what many of my students wrote:

“If violence was that common in our culture we would be more adept at handling violent situations when they occur, but in reality we believe that most people are good and the people who go on knifing and shooting sprees are in the minority.”

Another student, Maddie Douthit, wrote about the causes of violence on high school and university campuses:

“In recent years, I have witnessed violence manifest itself ... as a result of the fear and pain many teenagers ... experience due to the pressures of society. For many students, getting a B on a test or in a class is unacceptable.”

Maddie went on to decry some of the public response to Mohammad’s death:

“To be frank, it appalls me that so many students can be happy at the death of another student. He was one of us. I can’t help but wonder if this ... could have been avoided if Mohammad had reached out for help from counselors at our university. Many of us can identify with the feeling of isolation and ostracism, and although these feelings in no way validate Mohammad’s terrible actions ... it also doesn’t mean that we should wish ill on anyone, even Mohammad. I honestly believe the officer made the appropriate call. I just hope that as we move from this tragic event we focus less on celebrating the death of a student, (and more) on the strength of our school.”

Finally, David Del Bosque responded at length to Chancellor Leland’s comments about our culture of violence:

“The phrase that ‘we live in a culture of violence’ has always sounded ridiculous to me ... like something my grandfather would say to my grandmother about how troublesome teens were getting because of TV and video games. I wasn’t thinking that way after (Nov. 4). I had a different perspective. ... People tend to explain actions of violence, (look for) some sort of logic behind why we choose to hurt people. And that right there is where I see the issue.

“People don’t logically hurt one another. People, I would say, are very much the opposite. We go out of our way to make sure people are okay and safe ... countless messages were sent out from professors advising their students to be safe ... students lined up with candles ... to show support. A (construction worker) came to a student’s rescue and was stabbed because of it. I mean, how can we live in a culture of violence when we’re wired to take care of others? After the event on (Nov. 4) I was stuck thinking about one thing the whole day and that was why do we only ever think about violence when it’s already too late.”

It is certainly possible to interpret my students’ beliefs in the essential beneficence of humankind as naive. Many did agree with Leland’s assertion, but almost all of my students also expressed sentiments of unity and a rejection that we, as a culture, are doomed to a violent existence.

Despite my tendency toward hypervigilance, I do agree with my students about the human tendency toward something good, something better than violence and anger. After all, isn’t that why we build universities in the first place? And as I read their responses, I couldn’t help thinking about how lucky I am, how lucky we all are, to have students such as these in the Merced community.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Brigitte Bowers: UC Merced students speak out on campus attack."