Five days after the announcement of the deaths of Professors Half and Susanne Zantop, Dartmouth students are by and large continuing with their daily routines as usual.
"As terrible as the situation is, what I've noticed is that a lot of students are taking it in stride," said Sanjay Banerjee '04, noting that students have found distraction in their midterms and full schedules.
"It seems so crazy, and if you've never taken classes with these people, it can seem like it didn't really happen," Banerjee continued.
For the most part, students are not overly upset over the lack of details made public regarding the crimes. Yet some did express frustrations. "I think it's scary; they should be giving us more information. It's part of our lives here," said Sarah Blowe '03. "But maybe they just don't have any more info," she added.
Julia Martinez '03 expressed a bit of relief at the lack of immediately available details, "It's troubling, but then again, if you're given too much information at one time, you can't process it."
"Everything's kind of confusing, you hear rumors, and you wonder what's going on behind the scenes when you're left in the dark," Alexis Sheehan '04 said, citing the rumors which circulated about the crime-scene photographers in the Massachusetts Hall basement before an official explanation was later released in The Dartmouth.
None of the students who spoke with The Dartmouth had used the Safety and Security's escort service, though Blowe noted that the failure to use this service was "probably really stupid."
The students explained that in spite of recent events, they continue to feel fairly safe on campus.
However, several stated that friends and roommates, particularly those living in the River Cluster, had called for the service.
Safety and Security's escort program was extended to be available 24 hours a day as part of an effort to heighten campus safety in the wake of the murders.
"I'm not afraid on this campus. I don't think students need to worry too much about their safety -- not yet, anyway," Martinez said.
