It's time

Billboards regarding missing student Lauren Spierer were taken down last week to mixed reviews and feelings.

Many want the signs to remain in place.

A Facebook page was created in protest.

People want the signs to stay up, per the Spierer family request.

However, the Editorial Board believes if there was ever a good time to take down the signs, now would be the most appropriate.

The problem with taking them down is just as Mayor Mark Kruzan said in a statement released last week.

“For those who believe they should remain in place, there was no right time to remove them,” he said.

They’ve become symbols.

Symbols of hope that we believe Bloomington can play its part in the search.

That we believe there’s a chance she could still return home safely.

They’ve also become warnings.

Every new student that drives here sees her signs — a cautionary tale of the consequences of reckless and common student behavior.

The nature of the beast is that Lauren is probably no longer in Bloomington or Monroe County.

Signs for Lauren can and will still be displayed in businesses and stores.

Bloomington will not forget her. But all signs on public property will be moved or replaced.

After two years, it’s time not to forget, but to move on.

It’s time for the University to take more serious action with current students: programs about safety, seminars about drinking and drugs, etc.

That’s the best way we can continue to remember Lauren — by making sure not another student on this campus is harmed.

As complicated, sticky and awful as the situation is, the bare fact of the matter is it’s time.

Students and faculty need to adopt a new strategy.

Instead of the shock-and-awe method of telling Lauren’s story, this new strategy needs to be educational and preventative.

Lauren Spierer’s disappearance was preventable — incredibly so.

And even though we’ve lost her, there are students like her on this campus who we can save before their signs replace hers.

It’s time to mourn her loss, and it’s time to move on.

If anyone has any information regarding Lauren Spierer, please contact the Bloomington Police Department’s 24-hour tip line at 812-339-4477 or your local police department.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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