USC Students React to On Campus Shooting

Students on the University of South Carolina's campus had their schedules interrupted on Thursday when they got a Carolina Alert saying there was a shooting in the Arnold School of Public Health. Senior business student Christine Anne, 21, had just arrived on campus as the events were unfolding, "I parked my car directly in front of the public health building and was walking uphill to the new business building when a cop car came flying with its sirens on down Assembly Street. A few minutes later I saw the alert on my phone," said Anne.

Some students applaud USC for the fast acting alert while others say it points out the flaws in security on campus. Sophomore Kayla Bryant said while she got the alert on her phone, her instructor did not. "We had to tell him what was going on and even afterwards he kept asking us what he should do," said Bryant. A student who wished to remain anonymous stated she can't believe after shootings at Virginia Tech that USC doesn't have a system of defense. "In my class, we didn't have locks on our doors, we weren't sure what to do, go home, stay, it was just a lot of confusion," she expressed. Even after another alert was sent out saying there was no longer a threat, confusion still lingered. "I wasn't sure if I was supposed to go to class or if anyone had even died, said Courtney McVair, 21, who was off campus at the time of the incident. Many students were upset at USC for not cancelling classes in light of the incident, taking theirfrustrations to social media. "It's just upsetting because they didn't give us any time to decompress. It's disrespectful to the dead, to just carry on like a tragic event didn’t happen," said Megan Jillian, 20. The name of one of the two deceased has been released after Thursday's incident. Dr. Raja Fayad, an associate professor, was shot multiple times in the upper body by an gunman whose name has not yet been released. Dr. Fayad was working on colon cancer research at USC and was known as a kind man to those he taught. "He was one of my professors when I first started taking classes in the public health building. He helped me get my first internship," said one student through tears Friday morning. USC held a candlelight vigil Friday at 5:00pm on its historic Horseshoe to remember Dr. Fayad. The university encourages those who need to to use their counseling services located on the seventh floor of the Byrnes building.