Standing at the Gothic Bridge in Central Park on December 21st, 2025, a week after the December 13th, 2025 mass shooting at Brown University, I joined with students, alumni, and family members for a vigil organized by The Brown University Club in New York. It was moving to hear community members share their fond memories and gratitude for their time at the university, offering some light and remembrance during a hard time. A moment of silence was observed in honor of Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, the two victims of the shooting. Through crisis and hardship, the Brown community remains ‘Ever True’ — strong and supportive of one another in times of need.
Although every school shooting is extremely tragic and heartbreaking, it does not necessarily come as a surprise. Lockdown drills are a regular occurrence, and each story about gun violence has become too common in the United States in order to stay in the news for long. Many individuals have experienced a school shooting, and some have endured more than one. What unsettled me most was realizing how close to home these events are, and how easily they can affect the people we love, or how easily they can affect ourselves.
My brother is a junior at Brown University and was in the middle of taking an exam in the building next door to Barus and Holley, where the shooting took place. I had briefly seen a message on Instagram about an alert of a college shooter, but in no world did I imagine that the situation would affect anyone I personally knew, until I received a text from my mom about my brother’s whereabouts.
The public statements from Rhode Island officials in the hours after the shooting and days later, when the perpetrator was still unknown, were heavily criticized. The press conferences and news stories focused on finding the suspect and reporting on the investigation, but there was just as much emphasis on the community’s impact and on efforts to alleviate its stress. Though Providence is a city, a densely populated urban setting, Rhode Islanders think of their state more as a town with lots of New England charm. It was hard for Rhode Islanders to believe that something this awful could happen in their home.
My mom is from Rhode Island, so I grew up visiting there often and think of it as my second home. Once my brother became a student, I visited Providence frequently, and I became familiar with the Brown campus. In my mind, Rhode Island is my escape from city life, so it was hard for me to associate it with such a horrific event.
Along with its open curriculum, Brown University is known for its open, welcoming campus. Visitors are free to walk around the grounds as there is no barricade separating the campus from the city of Providence. During finals week, when the shooting took place, buildings were open for students to enter and exit freely, without requiring an ID card swipe. Students focused on the exams they needed to take, the study sessions they needed to attend, and the distractions that were welcome during an important end of the semester ritual of final exams, such as meeting up with friends and taking a break at the dining hall.
As a high school senior who has just finished the college application process and is awaiting the decision on where I will spend the next four years, I find the analysis of campus safety and the new measures being implemented to prevent another tragedy essential and reassuring. But I also wonder how college life will change.
This was not the first time that Claudio Neves Valente, the shooter, had entered the Barus and Holley building. Derek Lisi, a custodian for Brown’s Engineering Research Center, said he had noticed Neves Valente enter and roam the building multiple times weeks before the shooting. Lisi had notified a staff member about his suspicions, but no investigation was conducted.
Lisi and many others question how safe the building was before the attack, since it was only after the attack that additional safety and security protocols were implemented. But evidently, Valente knew his way around the building as a former student, and increased security was not going to prevent him from entering. A student could easily hold the door for a stranger, or someone could catch the door before it closes.
Since the shooting, much of the attention has been about addressing the specific security issues on the Brown campus. Other important issues, such as stricter gun laws and our nation’s mental health crisis, have been discussed, but these issues are more difficult to address.
The gun laws in Rhode Island are strict, and the state has one of the lowest death rates from guns in the country. But that did not stop a mass shooting from occurring there. Rhode Island does not have laws denying gun sales if the buyer poses a danger to public safety, nor does it prohibit guns from being purchased by people with assault or other violent misdemeanor convictions. Additional gun laws in Rhode Island and across our country are needed in order to protect our communities from gun violence.
Most cases of gun violence in our country are highly linked to mental health illnesses. Improving access to mental health services in schools and throughout our healthcare system is necessary to destigmatize getting help. If more schools receive government funding to implement mental health awareness programs, teenagers can get the treatment they need and go out into the world equipped to help themselves and others and prevent problems before they turn into incidents of gun violence.
Increased gun laws and mental health services are the pivotal factors for change and making communities safer, which far surpass any efforts at Brown to add security enhancements and limit building access. Many campuses, like Brown’s, thrive because of the community they are connected to, strengthening bonds with neighbors, giving back, and embracing the city they are part of. Every student deserves the right to feel safe on their campus, their home for four years. I look forward to starting college in the fall and enjoying all the freedoms that will come with that experience.
Through crisis and hardship, the Brown community remains ‘Ever True’ — strong and supportive of one another in times of need.