Members of the university addressed concerns and answered questions about the finals week campus threat at a panel Wednesday in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

The panel, “Overcoming Violence on Campus: Updates on our Campus Alert and Where We Go from Here,” was hosted by Housing and Dining and featured James Brunson, assistant vice president of Diversity & Equity; Kelly Wesener, executive director of Housing and Dining; Micky Sharma, director of Counseling & Student Development; NIU Police Chief Donald Grady; and Student Trustee Shaun Crisler.

The purpose of the discussion was to bring the leaders of the university to students to answer questions and to address challenges faced by the threat with the intention of moving forward for a positive change, Wesener said.

Police are still investigating the incident and have a few leads, Grady said. If the individual is caught, the person or persons will be prosecuted with a hate crime, he said.

Grady discussed the ability of the critical incident response team at NIU to handle events like an attack or a hazardous material spill. NIU will not need to cease operations if a similar threat is made again, he said.

Also, Grady promoted the police response time at NIU as almost immediate, and their assistance is only moments away.

“I can assure you that you are in good hands, and we don’t even have to be Allstate,” Grady said.

Traci Underwood, a sophomore speech pathology major, said she was impressed with what Grady said at the panel.

“It was comforting to know how well the situation was handled,” Underwood said.

The most effective way for the police to help protect community members is for citizens to inform the police of any concerns, Grady said.

He compared the situation to a story about a Virginia Tech student who found an entrance chained shut during the attack and climbed through a window to attend class instead of contacting the police.

Also, students shouldn’t be worried about calling the police when they have a safety concern, Grady said.

Wesener encouraged students to trust their instincts when they see something that appears wrong.

“If it doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t right,” Grady said.

Panel members also discussed social methods that could help in the future.

Sharma encouraged students to go above the tolerance and acceptance of people’s diversity and embrace each other.

Also, Sharma advised students to ask other students: “What can I learn about your background, and what can I share with you about mine?”

Crisler advised students to let others know when they are offended. People don’t have to belong to a group to be offended, Crisler said.

About 70 people attended the panel.

“Seeing the number of people here tells me that we still need to do a number of things to strengthen the community,” said Matt Venaas, sophomore political science and English major.