Since 2017, PHYS 0040: “Basic Physics B” has often been taught in Barus and Holley 166, the classroom where the mass shooting occurred. But this semester, no classes will be held in the room, which is one of the largest lecture halls on campus.
Professor of Physics James Valles, who is teaching PHYS 0040 this semester, worked with Media Services as he adjusted to the new classroom, he said in an interview with The Herald. The class often has demonstrations, and the physics department’s lecture demonstration team has been carrying equipment across campus to PHYS 0040’s new classroom, according to Valles.
“They are being incredible troopers,” he added.
On Jan. 20, faculty members and administrators involved in Ever True, the University’s campus healing initiative, met with the Large Class Special Interest Group to discuss the first day back, academic space and accommodations. The group, which meets monthly, is made up of professors who teach large lecture courses.
“Because (the shooting) happened in a big classroom, the faculty had feelings about going back into big spaces as well,” said Monica Linden, an associate teaching professor of neuroscience and member of the group.
It seemed that “the upper administration and the Sheridan Center are interested in helping us and making sure that we can get what we need,” Linden said.
“We’ve been trying to help teach instructors and faculty how to create space,” said Nicole Nugent, professor of psychiatry, human behavior, emergency medicine and pediatrics, who helped lead the meeting.
William Holmes, an associate teaching professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry, grappled with how to address the around 450 students in BIOL 0280: “Biochemistry” in the wake of the shooting.
“I wanted to say something,” Holmes said. But, “I don’t know exactly what you say in these scenarios.”
Holmes tried to offer a less scripted acknowledgement of the shooting, and instead did his “own thing.”
In APMA 0350: “Applied Ordinary Differential Equation,” a class of over 140 students, Peyam Tabrizian, assistant teaching professor of applied mathematics, told his students that “healing takes time,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. “There is no right or wrong way of coping with what happened.”
He told them that doing math has helped him “get through the low points of (his) life,” and hoped math would “have the same therapeutic effect on the students as well.”
When Tabrizian returned to his office for the first time after the shooting, it felt like “time stood still for the last month,” he wrote. But after his first lecture back, he was reminded of “how resilient the students and faculty here are.”
Seyla Fernandez is a senior staff writer covering faculty.
