When Campuses No Longer Feel Safe: A Generation Confronting Repeated School Violence
When Campuses No Longer Feel Safe: For many college students in the United States, higher education was once imagined as a fresh start—an environment far removed from the lockdown drills and fear-filled hallways of their school years. Yet for a growing number of young adults, that sense of distance has vanished. Their past experiences with gun violence have followed them into universities, reshaping how they view safety, normalcy, and the future.
A Familiar Fear Returns During Finals Week
Mia Tretta, a junior at Brown University, was preparing for final exams when emergency alerts suddenly appeared on her phone. The messages warned of a serious incident near the engineering building and urged students to stay inside and avoid windows. At first, she tried to dismiss the possibility that it could be another shooting. However, the language of the alerts felt hauntingly familiar.
Years earlier, Tretta had survived a mass shooting at her high school in Santa Clarita, California. At just 15 years old, she was shot in the abdomen during an attack that killed two students and injured several others. She believed that such an experience would be a once-in-a-lifetime trauma. Facing a similar situation again on a college campus shattered that assumption.
Growing Up With Lockdown Drills
Tretta’s story reflects a broader reality for a generation that grew up practicing active shooter drills as part of routine school life. Many of these students entered college hoping those memories would remain in the past. Instead, repeated incidents of campus violence have forced them to confront the same fears in spaces that once symbolized safety and independence.
In recent years, survivors of major school attacks have encountered new tragedies later in their academic journeys. These repeated experiences have created a unique form of collective trauma among students who feel that no educational setting is truly secure.
Memories That Never Fully Fade
Another Brown student, Zoe Weissman, shared her own reflections online. During a mass shooting at a nearby high school in Parkland, Florida, she was attending middle school next door. She remembers hearing gunshots, seeing emergency responders rush in, and later watching footage of the event. Although years have passed, those memories remain vivid and deeply unsettling, especially when similar events occur again.
When Violence Reaches Home
For some students, fear has not been limited to school grounds. Ben Greenberg, now a student at Brown University, experienced a different kind of trauma during high school. In 2022, he was pulled out of class and informed that his father had narrowly survived an assassination attempt at his workplace. The incident left Greenberg constantly anxious about the safety of his family.
Moving away to attend college offered him a sense of relief—until a shooting occurred directly across the street from his residence. Greenberg and his roommates barricaded their home, terrified that the attacker might still be nearby. That night, fear once again became a constant presence.
The Ripple Effect on Families and Communities
According to Greenberg’s father, the impact of gun violence extends far beyond those physically injured. Families, friends, and entire communities absorb the emotional consequences. Trauma, anxiety, and long-term psychological stress are wounds that may never fully heal. These effects often shape how young people approach relationships, education, and civic engagement.
Turning Trauma Into Advocacy
After surviving a shooting as a teenager, Tretta chose to channel her experience into activism. She became involved with Students Demand Action and later rose to a leadership role within the organization. Her advocacy work led her to national policy discussions and meetings with high-ranking officials.
One of her primary concerns has been the issue of untraceable firearms, commonly known as ghost guns. These weapons, often assembled from parts, pose serious challenges for regulation and law enforcement. Tretta believes addressing such issues is essential to preventing future tragedies.
Searching for Safety in Higher Education
Ironically, at the time of the Brown University incident, Tretta was working on an academic paper examining the educational paths of students affected by school shootings. Her research, deeply personal in nature, aimed to highlight how repeated exposure to violence shapes student outcomes.
Choosing Brown had represented hope—a chance to feel secure and live a more ordinary college life. The events on campus reminded her, and many others, that safety in educational institutions cannot be taken for granted. For this generation, the pursuit of learning is increasingly intertwined with the demand for meaningful change and lasting solutions.