On October 26, 2009, tragedy struck the ASU Tempe campus when 59-year old graduate student, David Solnick, took his own life in front of Design School professor Mookesh Patel. The incident occurred in Patel's office in the Design School South building shortly before noon, while a number of students were in the building. While neither Mr. Solnick or Dr. Patel were connected with our ministry we were still impacted by this tragedy with the Design School being located directly across from our campus ministry building at Tempe First UMC. As I was returning to my office from an errand at the main church office that day, I noticed a few emergency vehicles parked on Forest Ave., however, I did not think much of them since that was a common place for emergency vehicles to park if there was a medical emergency on that part of campus. After returning to my office, I soon realized the noise of a helicopter hovering. After a number of minutes., I realized something more serious must be going on. I exited the building and saw more emergency personnel and police officers had gathered, along with a number of news vans. At this point I also realized that police tape had been put up, blocking access to the walkway between the North and South Design Buildings. At that moment I recieved a Twitter update from the State Press, the University's newspaper, that mentioned a shooting had occured on campus and it was suspected a student had committed suicide. As I approached the crowd gathering near the taped off area to try and get more details, a random student approached me and asked, "So is class canceled for the day?" I replied, "Well, I think a student just committed suicide in there and I'm pretty sure everyone is dealing with that right now." The student replied, "yeah, I guess class is canceled then" and he walked off. The following day, with the help of Tempe First UMC staff members, we setup a prayer chapel in the Fireside Room of the Wesley building, whose doors open to Forest Ave., in direct view of the Design School buildings. We left the doors open and placed signs outside indicating that the building was open for prayer and that a pastor was also available. A number of students walked-in that day to silently pray and reflect and to read from the Bible. Our temporary prayer chapel also drew the attention of news crews who had returned to follow up on the story and I gave interviews for channel 3 and channel 5 news. I also met with two of our Wesley students who are a part of the design program at ASU. While neither of these students knew Mr. Solnick they were both shaken by this tragedy. For one student, this brought back fears of campus shootings, such as those that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois universities. As I reflect on this tragedy I am unable to remove the knot from my stomach thinking about something like this happening on campus, especially right in front of a professor, in the middle of the day, in a building full of people. I cannot imagine what Dr. Patel must be going through. I cannot imagine having to go back to class or work in that building. I cannot imagine what the family and friends of David Solnick are going through. Perhaps what disturbs me the most though is the comments made by the student outside of the Design School shortly after the shooting occurred. Maybe it was just a fluke, but I can't help but wonder why this student was so desensitized to these events. Is the pressure on students so intense that they are more worried about missing class than they are about a tragedy that just occurred inside the building they are standing in front of? Or have we been so desensitized to violence that another university campus shooting no longer rattles us? Or was there a sense of denial and emotional defense? Was it something that is so tragic and unbelievable that maybe the only thing we can do is worry about our homework so we don't have to process it and deal with it face-to-face? This is where our faith becomes important. As God mourns this tragedy, God calls us to mourn. We hope and we pray that something like this never happens again but we also pray for all those affected, especially the family, friends, and co-workers of Mr. Solnick and Dr. Patel. We pray for the students, staff, and faculty who must return to that building each day with who are constantly reminded of what happened there. We especially pray for all those who may be struggling right now with depression and thoughts of hopelessness. May God help us reach out to those persons in love and compassion. May God open all of our hearts and minds to facing the tragedies and sufferings of the world so that we may respond, even if that response is to simply feel compassion, sympathy, and loss. As the Gospel story illustrates, our faith is not one that ends with tragedy, suffering, and indifference but with transformation and hope.

One of the best kept secrets about our newly remodeled facilities is our student lounge. Located in the Wesley building on the grounds of Tempe First UMC, the lounge is a great place for students to study, relax, nap, use a computer, connect to our wireless network, watch TV or a DVD, or just hang-out with friends. The lounge is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You will only need to know the code to the keyless entry door located on the south side of the building. If you would like the code or have any questions please contact rob@valleywesley.com.