'Resilience and dedication': Diné College students, staff can return to campus after fire
Diné College will reopen its Tsaile campus on April 21, a full week since a fire burned buildings and disrupted classroom operations at the northeast Arizona school.
Students and faculty will return to the campus following a traditional cleansing ceremony, Diné College Acting President Glennita Haskey announced in a Facebook post April 18.
The school's official reopening comes after authorities investigating the cause of last week's fire identified two suspects and arrested one of them, Haskey stated.
Details of the arrest could not be independently confirmed, as of April 20. The Navajo Nation Police Department has not responded to repeated calls and emails requesting comment.
Fire crews responded to the blaze at the Tsaile campus on April 14 at around 2:15 a.m., when a fire alert was triggered.
Within hours, the fire burned more than half of the campus's Student Union Building and destroyed the school store, which contained records dating back to the 1950s, financial records and new graduation gowns for the 2025 commencement ceremony.
Students and faculty participated in remote learning amid the weeklong campus closure, while authorities contended with fire-related hazards and investigated what caused the structure fire.
Access will still be limited when in-person classes resume April 21, as the impacted areas will remain restricted, according to Haskey. Temporary fencing and contracted security personnel will surround the areas.
Efforts will soon get underway to reconstruct the Student Union building, Haskey stated.
The project will unfold in phases, starting in May, and was expected to be completed by October 2026. The first phase, she explained, will include document retrieval and structural assessments.
'Rebuilding the Student Union Building is not just about replacing a structure,' Haskey stated in the announcement. 'It represents our resilience and our dedication to providing the best resources and opportunities for our students to thrive.'
As for the upcoming graduation ceremony, preparations 'remain on track,' the school stated. The May 9 event will be held indoors at the Shiprock South Campus.
Neighboring state universities contributed graduation regalia for the graduating class of students, according to Diné's update.
The school will provide additional details on the ceremony and about students' caps and gowns on its website.
To address student concerns over campus safety, the school stated it will revisit evacuation plans, enhance communication strategies and update lockdown procedures.
It was also providing counseling and support services to students and staff amid the school's recovery.
"It's essential that everyone feels supported during this time," Haskey stated.
Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Avondale, Buckeye, Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Students can go back to campus after Diné College fire up north
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against accused Florida State mass shooter
State Attorney Jack Campbell confirmed that he intends to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing two people and injuring five others in the April 17 mass shooting at Florida State University. Phoenix Ikner was indicted by a grand jury May 14 on two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder, which include counts for two people he fired at but didn't hit. Campbell told media outlets that Ikner will face the ultimate punishment a day after the grand jury issued its indictment against him. When asked to elaborate why, he told the Tallahassee Democrat he couldn't ethically discuss the facts of the case. "I believe it's the right thing to do based on the facts and the law," Campbell said. The grand jury also released a true bill presentment detailing the crimes Ikner is accused of committing and clearing the actions of FSU Police Officer Cody Poppell, who ended his rampage when he shot him in the jaw from his moving motorcycle. Robert Morales, a 57-year-old dining coordinator at FSU, was shot and killed in the food court inside the Student Union. Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old Aramark employee from Greenville, South Carolina, was shot after the gunman exited the main entrance on the west side and fired at multiple people. Five students also were shot and injured and later released from the hospital. Under Florida law, prosecutors must file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty within 45 days of arraignment. Campbell said he anticipates filing notice in the near future. "I'll file a notice of intent to seek death, which will lay out the statutory aggravators," he said. "There are some statutory things that are listing the fact that there were multiple crimes and lots of people were in danger." The last defendant who was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in Leon County was Gary Michael Hilton, a brutal serial killer whose victims included Cheryl Dunlap, a nurse from Crawfordville. Sentenced in 2011, Hilton remains on Florida's death row. Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@ or 850-599-2180. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against accused FSU mass shooter
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Nobody wants your feeble prayers
Flowers, candles, and notes decorated the area around the Student Union at Florida State University days after two were killed and six were injured by a gunman on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) Thoughts and prayers. On Thursday, April 17, a 20-year-old boy, a student, walked around FSU's sunny campus, firing a handgun. Two dead; six injured. The response from our elected leaders? The usual: 'Thoughts and prayers.' The governor of the State of Florida said he was 'praying,' adding, 'We are all Seminoles today.' First Lady Casey DeSantis: 'Praying.' Sen. Rick Scott: Also 'praying.' The president of the United States called the attack 'terrible, a shame,' then blew off any suggestion of gun control reform, saying he's a 'big advocate of the Second Amendment.' Maybe he missed the praying memo. I teach at FSU; and that Thursday afternoon, I was locked down in my office. It was frightening, yes; it was also horribly familiar. This is America: Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Columbine, Uvalde, Nashville, Parkland. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that several survivors of the 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shooting were on campus that day. Robbie Alhadeff's sister Alyssa died at MSD: 'Something has to change,' he said. Graduate student Stephanie Horowitz saw people running and knew instantly what was happening. Jason Leavy was a freshman at MSD when Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people. He knew, too, and started barricading his classroom door. 'It's the least surprising thing in the world, honestly,' he said. Every one of those kids has been through multiple active shooter drills. Many faculty have, too. We are supposed to shove desks against our doors, turn off the lights, 'harden' our schools and churches and college campuses and act as though we're grateful when politicians express their insincere and frankly insulting 'sympathy.' Nobody wants their feeble prayers and, as for their thoughts, if the violence-loving reactionaries in charge of this state were actually capable of thoughts they'd realize things do not have to be this way. From the state Capitol to the U.S. Capitol, politicians shrug: Guns matter more than people; children, high school students, college students — they don't give the big money to political campaigns. The Second Amendment trumps all the others. We're supposed to accept there's nothing anyone can do: This is just the way things are. As The Onion's evergreen mass shooting headline goes, ''No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.' But the kids ain't all right; the kids are scared — and furious. Last Tuesday, a group of FSU students braved the morally noxious fumes of the Capitol to demand sensible gun control, red flag laws, firearm storage legislation — commonsense stuff like that. Madalyn Probst, president of the FSU College Democrats, said, 'The fact that they are able to sit in this place and prioritize weapons over my life, my friends' lives, and the lives of my community around me is deplorable.' Problem is, the grown folks in charge don't care. 'The fact that they are able to sit in this place and prioritize weapons over my life, my friends' lives, and the lives of my community around me is deplorable.' – Madalyn Probst, FSU College Democrats The Florida House has approved a bill allowing 18-year-olds to buy guns, repealing a law they passed after the murders at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. We don't let them drink, but hell, they can get themselves a nice Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun — just like the one used to kill three and wound five at Michigan State University in 2023. Here at FSU, you can still see the mountains of flowers and teddy bears where the wounded and dead fell. Yet the governor — who has the emotional intelligence of a poison dart frog —continues to push what he calls 'Second Amendment Summer.' If you're buying a gun or ammo between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, you don't have to pay sales tax. Because we want more people packing heat. The FSU atrocity was Florida's sixth mass shooting and the 27th school shooting in the nation. This year. So far. The grown folks in charge are obsessed with 'protecting' children from fluoride and potentially life-saving vaccines. No letting them near books like 'And Tango Makes Three,' lest they want to become gay. No letting them discover trans people and queer people are real and deserving of dignity. They can't stand the thought of high schoolers reading Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' or 'The 1619 Project,' lest they learn about the horrors of slavery. They are terrified college students might study sociology, delve into political theories suggesting organizational models for the state that don't insist our version of rapacious capitalism is the best, or encounter books that challenge religious or cultural orthodoxies. As for sex, they don't even want to think about it — unless, of course, the teenaged daughter gets pregnant or the teenaged son gets an STD. They insist on shielding kids from a slew of normal human realities, but not gun violence. It's OK for young people to grow up knowing how to barricade themselves inside a classroom or learn strategies for evading a mass shooter but not appreciate poetry or play a musical instrument or master a foreign language. It's OK for them to live scared of that loner kid or that angry-looking guy or some person they can't see, someone who wants to spill as much blood as possible. The freedom to get a gun any time for any reason is more important. So, we have Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Columbine, Uvalde, Nashville, Parkland, and now FSU. One of my students reminded me there was supposed to be a 'United Against Hate' symposium in honor of Maura Binkley on April 17. Maura Binkley was the student shot and killed at a yoga studio in 2018 along with another woman. The symposium was to promote campus safety, but it had to be canceled. The FSU building where it should have taken place was a crime scene. Maura Binkley was murdered by a guy who hated women. The young man who allegedly walked around campus shooting his classmates hates people of color — he's a Trump supporter and a white supremacist. He told a fellow student Black people were ruining his neighborhood. The United States government manufactures hatred against anyone who's not a white Christian, embracing violence against its citizens. Nowhere is safe. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Yahoo
'Not an easy decision': FSU reopening student union after consulting with students
The Florida State University student union will reopen Monday afternoon - almost two weeks after it became a crime scene when a student opened fire on campus, killing two and injuring six students. A moment of reflection will be held at the union at 3 p.m. before it opens. "We want to provide the maximum number of choices for our community to decide when they want to be in the Student Union," FSU President Richard McCullough wrote in a letter to students. "The opening will be conducted with the utmost respect and care for those affected." The decision came after the university consulted with students. A video posted along with the president's message on Instagram, shows students gathering with the president in front of the building. After the president says "we are stronger together," the group shouts "We are Florida State." 'We built this place. We made it our home. It's where we study, where we laugh and catch up with our friends," a succession of students say in the video. 'Through a senseless act of violence. Someone tried to take it from us. They didn't." "We are motivated to take it back for everyone. We are reclaiming our student union for each other. For the people who we lost. For the people who came before us. And for the ones who come after.' Law enforcement has not specified exactly what transpired in the student union during the mass shooting, only saying there were multiple crime scenes inside and outside the building. Structurally, there was little damage, though many students fled and left behind iPads, phones and backpacks, which have since been recovered. McCullough shined a little more light on the situation at a Board of Trustees meeting, noting that law enforcement responders kicked in more than 300 doors around campus as they cleared and evacuated buildings. Next week is the final week of the semester on campus before graduation ceremonies, which will see increased security and a moment of silence. Here's FSU President Richard McCullough's full letter on the decision to reopen, which was made after consulting with students. "In the wake of the tragic events on April 17, I find myself reflecting on that terrible day and the needs of our community." "Our loss is immeasurable, yet amid the sorrow, we have witnessed the incredible solidarity and support from students, faculty, staff, and friends. This sense of unity is a testament to the unconquered spirit of Florida State University." "After careful consideration and listening to our students, we have decided to reopen the Student Union from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 28. Please join us for a moment of reflection at 3 p.m. prior to the Union opening." "This was not an easy decision, and I know some may disagree with it. I have spoken with numerous students across all classes. Our seniors, in particular, expressed a strong desire for the Union to be open for their last week at Florida State University." "We understand the importance of the Student Union as a hub for connection, support, learning, and growth. It is crucial that we continue to offer students the services, opportunities, and communal space that foster their development and well-being." "We want to provide the maximum number of choices for our community to decide when they want to be in the Student Union. The opening will be conducted with the utmost respect and care for those affected. No employees or volunteers will be required to be present or will be required to return to the Student Union until they are ready. More information for employees who work in the Student Union is forthcoming." "We are committed to providing a space where individuals are honored, and where the needs of the majority are balanced with sensitivity toward individual experiences. Those who are ready to return are invited to join us at the Student Union on Monday." "Those who don't feel comfortable can return when they are ready. Everyone will heal at their own pace and feel differently about being in that space. We will announce additional operating hours this week. We are considering the needs of the entire student body and campus community as we take this step forward." "Together, we will continue to reflect, heal, and move forward. We are Florida State." "Sincerely, Richard McCullough FSU President" This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida state reopening student union after mass shooting
