On the afternoon of Oct. 5, 2022, Dr. Thomas Meixner, the head of the hydrology department at the University of Arizona, was shot and killed in his office by a deranged former graduate student.
Because it happened soon after another campus murder in Indiana — a Purdue student stabbed his roommate to death — and around the same time as 36 children and adults were massacred at a child care facility in Thailand, Meixner’s murder didn’t get much national attention.
Nor did the university see the need to cancel classes the next day. Instead, the president sent around an email saying it felt “surreal” to be on campus. He offered condolences, announced a candlelight vigil and directed the traumatized community to take advantage of counseling resources.
