And today, classes will resume at the School of Dentistry, where Barakat was a second-year dental student.
Classes were cancelled Wednesday for all graduate students in the School of Dentistry. On Thursday, classes for first- and second-year students were cancelled, and third- and fourth-years were allowed to take the day off as their schedules permitted.
Across campus, faculty and students are struggling to get back into a routine. Some professors have pushed back assignments or spent class time discussing the homicides. Others feel the issue is too sensitive to discuss with students for now.
Victoria Ekstrand, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, gave her media law students the option to postpone their test on Thursday if they were not feeling up to it.
The test was on the limitations of free speech, including hate speech. Ekstrand said some students felt it was fitting to study the material given Tuesday’s homicides.
Other students requested time to mourn.
“I was going to do a case-by-case evaluation of who needed an extension, but some students wanted to take the exam as an academic response to a horrific act,” Ekstrand said. “It takes time for people to know where they are in their grief.”
Only eight of Ekstrand’s 90 students requested to postpone the test.