As you know, this past weekend there was a terrible tragedy that took place off campus and took the life of one of our students, sophomore Kortneigh McCoy. Kortneigh was a Physics and Engineering major, a Resident Assistant in Simpson Hall, a member of Unified Voices Under God's Dominion Choir and the University Chorale. The student who is in custody is Shanee Liggins, a senior at FSU. She is charged with first and second degree murder. The incident is under investigation by C3I, which is the Combined County Criminal Investigation Unit. I will let you know additional information as it is made available to us. At this time, all we know is that this occurred off campus at a house party.
An incident like this is extremely upsetting for everyone, especially those of us who knew Kortneigh and Shanee. Over these next few days and weeks, I ask that you be vigilant, and if you notice that students are hurting and unable to cope with their grief, please refer them to FSU's Counseling and Psychological Services. If you notice that a student in your class is acting in a manner that it not consistent with the behavior you have come to know and expect, ask them what is wrong. If they start missing class consistently or their grades suddenly change dramatically, ask them what is wrong. If you notice a difference and don't know what to do, just call Student & Educational Services and Dr. Tom Bowling or Dr. Jesse Ketterman will be sure to follow up. Likewise, if you hear talk about revenge or conversations that reflect intense anger—please also contact Dr. Bowling or Dr. Ketterman. It would not be out of line to mention this or even to discuss it in class, particularly a discussion of the appropriate way to deal with anger and appropriate means of conflict management.
We will all be working very closely with our students, especially those who knew Kortneigh and Shanee, but you can all help by being attentive and by communicating with your students and with us. Thank you for caring and please also know, that if you knew Kortneigh or Shanee and need to talk about how you feel, don't hesitate to contact either Human Resources or our Counseling Center. An incident like this is hard on everyone, and sometimes we quickly forget the impact this has on our faculty and staff who work with our students and get to know them for the wonderful people they are.
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16 comments:
Grief counseling is great, but what about the students who didn't know them and are just scared to death something like this might happen to them? Who is going to talk to us about feeling safe? Who is going to find out who else is carrying weapons like guns and knives on and off campus? Who is going to help my parents feel secure letting me return to Frostburg without them.
What has happened to FSU? Two violent crimes "off campus" in the last year and a half is insane! No one was carrying around guns and knives 10 years ago. What has changed? I don't think there were even knives sharp enough (in any of the off campus homes I lived in) to cut a carrot much less kill someone. I know the generic response "we can't control what happens off campus" is going to be the phrase of the month, but you can control admissions. Stabbing and shootings have no place in college much less at FSU. Off campus housing is a large portion of the student population. Somehow it needs to become intertwined with on campus relations. If sororities/fraternities can be held accountable "on campus" then the rest of the student body should as well. Colleges should be even more vigilant in regards to suspensions/expulsions than high schools. People send sons and daughters away from home and pay huge amounts of money to do so, safety should be number one always. If you are a tuition paying student you deserve to be safe on or off campus. Maybe some of the resources for "underage drinking" should be redirected. Alcohol is not to blame for underlying aggressive people. A factor, maybe, but I never went to a house party and worried about someone pulling out a gun or a knife. Please FSU, do something.
I would like to agree with both of the previous posts. As an alumni of FSU I find it ridiculous that the University can and has imposed sanctions on groups/greek organizations and teams for thier actions off campus regardless of wether those actions had anything at all to do with FSU.
I strongly feel that the time has come to take a stand. Regardless of what the law decides to do with the offenders in this or any other case I think it is high time that FSU steps up does something about people involved in these types of situations.
One of the things i always loved about the FSU community as a whole is that it was a great area.... a safe area... one that you werent afraid to go out in or walk through. Wether it is lax recruting policies or something else that feeling of "Safeness" is dwindling and I for one would like to see the university take a more proactive role in fixing it.
As a former student of Frostburg state univeristy I am appalled!I never worried about being at off campus parties or walking on or off campus at night. I must agree with the comments before me what about the safety of the students that are still there? I have a bf, close friends and a family memeber that all attend that school and all frequent off campus activities; should we wait for another students life to be taken before something is done? This school has to take some type of repsonsibilit for this tragedy. This is a student you admitted into your school, what are you going to do about this? what are you going to do so that me, and other family and friends of students still in attendance at this institution feel safe knowing that our friends are family are there and their safety is left in your hands?? Now I do understand that students can aid in their own safety by not involving themselves in altercations as such and being more aware of their surroundings and the individuals they are with. I think that all the individuals involved in this tragedy should be expelled immediately or atleast suspended. Fighting on or off campus should be taken very seriously and I dont believe it has been. Students lives will continue to be taken just like Kourtneigh's if you all dont set some serious grounds for what you will and will not tolerate and fighting, bullying or any other malicious act towards another student should be at the top of the list!
I agree with all the previous posts. As an alumni and now a current grad student at FSU I feel the university isn't responding the right way. The administrations claims that even after this weekends tragedy that Frostburg is still a safe place to live and send students to school. I no longer feel safe in my own house. At the beginning of the semester someone threw a cinder block through one of my windows in my office campus house in an attempt to brake in. Luckily they were scared off. Throughout the semester I have seen numerous street fights break out all over town as well. I think we need to start with the admissions process and toughen up our standards. Of course it would take enrollment down but in the process hopefully improve the quality of individuals that we bring to our campus.
This falls in your lap, President Gibralter. Please understand that your campus has lost it's "party school" moniker and picked up a thug school label. It sickens me, as an alum.
Thats what happens when you lower you GPA, and go out of the area to recruit hood rats.
It's hard for me to feel proud to be an Alum of FSU when you mention it in public in the DC area and now it's only associated with "that school where people keep getting killed." Something more needs to be done. What lessons are out there to be learned from other schools that have gone through this?
And your press conference this afternoon didn't address ANY issues. This isn't an alcohol issue. This is a weapons, violence, and recruiting issue. There are other ways Frostburg can get money from the Feds. try working on your school's completion rates instead of accepting everyone who applies. be selective. College isn't a right. Not everyone is ready or mature enough for the responsibilities.
While I agree with almost everything ppl are saying in this blog. Everybody wants to play the blame game. Well they lowered the GPA, that's how they got here...or they went to the hood to recruit hoodrats... and even they are from DC, PG, and Bmore, that's why it happened. All of that is absoultey stupid. I am barely a year out of Frostburg, and knew the suspect who is NOT from the hood, who was admitted to frostburg BEFORE they LOWERED the gpa if they even lowered the gpa and not from DC, PG, or Bmore. So what does that mean? I just hope Kourtneigh is Resting in Paradise and Shanee will be in my prayers for ever!!!
Wow. Racist much? "Hood rats" "Those people" Get off your high horse. Frostburg is no different than anywhere else where violence is always a potential. Yeah, it's awful but it happens in white suburbia too.
I was Kourtneigh's high school teacher and can personally attest that she was a beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful individual. I'm sorry she ever went to Frostburg where the racist alum can't look past her skin color. Guess what, good people come from Baltimore too.
This has nothing to do with the race of the people but more with being selective about who is let into the school. College isn't for everyone. If Towson can raise their standards so can we. The school needs to do something more and stop sending out messages saying that Frostburg is a safe place because clearly it is not.
Racist? Listen folks, if stating facts is racist, we've got problems. This isn't news to the current students. We know there are serious issues up here. It took two kids dying for people to see it? What a waste.
I ask that all of you please take a moment to read my latest blog post, available here: http://bit.ly/v4XQDU
If Towson can raise their standards so can we.
seems to me that one girl killed another girl at Towson this academic year too...or was that my imagination? FSU raised their admission standards this year and the enrollment declined, I think, as a result. That's my opinion and I don't know if its fact, but FSU isn't in the business of being a parent to its students. It's in the business to provide a quality higher education. Frostburg has a wonderful police force and it's THEIR job to protect your children when they are living and walking in the greater community. It's also YOUR job as a parent to teach your children to stay away from large rowdy underage drinking parties. I don't even want to get into the fact that these young people's brains aren't even fully developed in order to make rational decisions about the situations they put themselves in. There were a lot of factors at work in the events that led to this tragic incident and folks should take a moment before they start slinging the sole blame at Dr. G and FSU.
Everyone is afraid to state what is happening. Thug activity is/has ruined FSU. No one wants to be racist, gangster attitude must be dealt with. I would be stating exactly the same if white'skinheads'were doing the same. I can't believe the African American community is not outraged in the media concerning the death of a bright star and how a few are painting a poor image of whats going on in the black FSU community. Where is Rev Sharpton when we need him at FSU. Dramatic circumstances need to be addressed in dramatic fashion.
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