Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I checked, we weren’t supposed to give in to terrorists in this country.

That’s been our stated national policy for years when dealing with explosives-strapped religious fanatics aimed at destroying our way of life. I wonder how Osama bin Laden would feel if he knew that he could cause just as much trouble and disruption in our daily lives with a Sharpie and a bathroom stall.

I, for one, never really took bathroom graffiti very seriously. Does this mean I’m going to have to change my tune, now? I guess Metallica really does “sukk,” Steve really is gay, and for a good time, I really should call that number.

All our wannabe Harris and Kliebold duo had to do was invoke the name of Virginia Tech, and we were sent scrambling to our respective corners to hide under a pile of flak jackets.

Given the racial connotations of the threat scrawled on the wall, I guess it’s not my place to say whether someone else should be threatened. Certainly, some people are legitimately afraid right now — though not nearly as many as I think are letting on.

This is finals week, after all. But I think we can all agree this doesn’t work as a long-term strategy for dealing with this kind of threat.

It sets a bad precedent to say that a few choice words on a wall can shut down the lives of thousands of people — such Chicken Little antics will only lead to bomb threats and school-shooting graffiti to become the “dead grandmother” of the 21st century, the go-to excuse to get out of taking a test.

Frightening as it may be, I seriously hope that the school was simply unprepared for a threat of this type, and that this isn’t how they plan on responding to this sort of thing from now on.

Even when dealing with international terrorists, there are degrees — some of you may remember the ill-advised color-coded system we used to have. There has to be something standing as a happy medium between ignoring a potential threat and a full-on panic.

Definitely, students should be informed about potential threats. And targeted students should be given the option of retaking their tests at a time when they feel more comfortable — perhaps some time later in the same day, so that no one could abuse the policy.

If our graffiti chucklehead hadn’t used the words “Virginia Tech” in his message, would this have gotten this sort of reaction? I don’t think so. Racist graffiti is, sadly, common, even in places like college campuses where people are supposed to be more enlightened. But by referencing and abusing a recent tragedy, some moron got a free pass out of his or her final exams for Monday.

And now, whoever did this knows that they can clear campus anytime they want. Biology test? Write “Columbine” next to the toilet-paper dispenser. Paper due? Extend that deadline with a racial epithet on the mirror. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that with this sort of reaction on the books, these sorts of incidents will increase, not decrease.

We can never take this sort of thing lightly when lives are threatened. But we need some intermediate measures before we give a bunch of idiots the keys to the kingdom, and exactly the sort of results they were hoping for.