The few students on campus are sticking together

Beth Cooney and Brittney Ginter sat in NIU's Village Commons Bookstore Monday afternoon tying one red-and-black memorial ribbon after another.

The sophomores, each clad in jeans and black NIU sweatshirts, were trying to go through the motions of another day on the job.

"This is my regular routine," said Ginter, 20, of Springfield. "But the atmosphere here is just surreal right now; it's so quiet."

Both students chose to stay on campus to work weekend shifts at the bookstore. They later learned that the store had closed for the weekend after Thursday's shooting.

"I heard only 500 students are still here," said Cooney, 20, of Chicago. "It feels like Christmas break."

Ginter, who lives in a nearby off-campus apartment, said she spent the weekend bonding with the few friends who also stuck around.

"No one's coping by themselves," Ginter said. "Simple things, like hanging out together, seem to help."

Justin Caldwell, 21, of Aurora, also chose to stay at school.

"My friends that are here, we're just watching TV, hanging out, sticking together," said the junior, who lives in an off-campus apartment. "We keep watching the news, trying to learn as more information comes out. I've got a million questions to answer from friends who don't go here."

All three students describe an increased police presence on campus and around town.

Ginter said she looks out her apartment window and has seen police cars go by two at a time.

"It's good, Ginter said. "It's reassuring."

Caldwell said the police presence on campus is similar to December, when the university discovered a threat on a campus bathroom wall. "Both times, there have been police and dogs all over the place," he said.

For Caldwell, who sits in lecture halls for all of his classes, "the police have made me feel a little safer," he said.

With school set to open next Monday, in-state students like Ginter, Cooney and Caldwell are considering shuttling back and forth between campus and home.

"I'll probably go home tonight," Cooney said.

Caldwell, who was home on Saturday, will probably return to Aurora for part of the week, he said. With a part-time job at an Old Navy back home, "I might try to pick up more hours," he said.

Being able to be closer to his parents this week, "I think is going to help both me and my mom feel better," he said.