By Brittany Burke
Over break I was dreading having to come up with a topic for this first column. While yes, it is good to have an outlet to which you can turn to vent your frustrations and gripe on about life, but what happens when you generally having nothing to complain about?
This was my dilemma as I was trying to come up with a sufficient enough idea for our first issue back. Again, what can you really complain about in regards to CCSU when most students haven’t stepped foot on this campus in over a month?
As I stared at my blank computer screen and let my mind wander I got news of the accident which took the lives of Rich Royster and Brittany Mariani. I was informed of it by my editor-in-chief and shortly after I received an email from CCSU (as every other student did) letting me know what the school had known to happen.
I then decided I wasn’t going to use my 400 word space to bash the school, I was going to commend it. I commend both the Marketing and Communications Department and the CCSU Athletics Department for how they handled the untimely deaths of these two students.
Instead of shying away from what had happened, leaving students to speculate with one another and on various social networking sites, the school sprang into action and kept the community informed, while keeping the best interests in mind for those who were close to both Rich and Brittany.
I didn’t know either of the students but as I sat in a press conference set up by the athletics department on Sunday afternoon it was apparent as Coach Mac, Athletic Director Paul Schlickmann and the four football Captains spoke that two great and honorable people had been lost Saturday morning.
As the email was sent out the school quickly jumped in to action and set up grief counseling for those who wished to take advantage of it in Kaiser Hall. Beyond that, Schlickmann spoke of the family unit, with emphasis on the Blue Devil football team, who had lost one of its brothers. At the press conference he spoke of plans to get the team together as a way to work through the loss as a family.
A memorial service is also in the works as everything is sorted out.
From the sports side of the equation, the Athletics Department did a tremendous job in working with the media, the students and, most importantly, the student athletes.
I appreciate being kept informed as a Sports Editor of the paper and a student, and everyone else should too.