The eyes of the nation are watching only one campus this week. During the aftermath of what the news media is calling the deadliest shooting rampage in modern history, Virginia Tech may take its place among school monikers whose very names sum up tragedies.

Think Columbine, Kent State, and now Virginia Tech.

When something terrible happens to a person or group of people one can relate to, the incident seems all the more powerful. Such is the effect Monday’s shootings seem to have had on college students from coast to coast.

Student newspapers around the country have abandoned their usual campus-centric coverage in favor of running wire stories about the events in Blacksburg, Va., but many have also reported on how the shooting has affected their own student bodies. In some cases, college newspapers report that the bullets have hit very close to home.

The Daily Evergreen at Washington State University devoted its entire news section to Virginia Tech coverage Tuesday. Articles included comments from WSU Provost Robert Bates, who was employed at Virginia Tech for three decades, an announcement for a candlelight vigil for the victims in Pullman and information on where students can receive counseling support.

Oregon State University Chancellor George Pernsteiner perhaps put it best. “When incidents such as this occur, it naturally raises concerns for everyone about the safety of students in our own schools and education institutions,” Pernsteiner said in a news release reported in OSU’s Daily Barometer.

Pernsteiner and an Oregon State Police Department lieutenant quoted by The Barometer said they felt OSU was fairly well prepared were such an attack to happen on their own campus.

“This is something we think about on a daily basis,” the lieutenant told the paper. “Part of what our job is to hope for the best and plan for the worst.”

One OSU student quoted in the article sounded less confident.

“What are they going to do about it, increase security?” freshman Jennifer Fideler asked. “We can’t have metal detectors in the dorm rooms.”

A student interviewed by The Daily Kansan, the student newspaper at the University of Kansas, agreed.

“There should be more protection, but I don’t know what that would mean. It could happen anywhere,” said KU junior Jennifer Jensen.

Campus security has become a major concern in the wake of the shootings, according to the student newspaper at the University of Iowa. From that article: “Local authorities have complained about understaffed security departments for years. The UI police’s security plan was last updated in 2005, and officials say such deadly events are virtually unpredictable and difficult to manage. In a statement, UI officials — who had faced a shooting rampage more than 15 years ago at Van Allen and Jessup Halls — on Monday said they would ‘reserve comment’ until more information was available.”

The paper noted that in the aftermath of the 1991 shootings on the UI campus, several buildings were locked down within minutes, although campus police later admitted to being “totally unprepared” for the shooting.

Campus security at Virginia Tech has already been the subject of much criticism for not taking quicker action to lock down the school after the shooting in the school’s residence hall had been reported. The massacre consisted of two shooting incidents more than two hours apart.

UI officials are already talking about how to make its campus safer. Ideas include locking residence hall doors during the middle of the night and having security guards patrol dorm hallways. Others think more police officers are the answer.

In the midst of the turmoil, credit should be given where credit is due. The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech’s student newspaper, has been an incredible source of news and information for anyone interested in the aftermath of the massacre. The paper has published everything from Facebook reactions to the shooting to a list of the deceased to video coverage and photo galleries of the aftermath. It is by far the most comprehensive resource one can find on the shootings right now — and will likely continue to be for some time to come.