A graduate student walked into a professor’s office in the College of Design South building and shot himself in front of the professor Monday morning.

That image is horrifically shocking. It is so out of the realm of normalcy and so beyond what we would ever want to imagine happening so close to us.

We come to school thinking it is a safe place to be, a safe place to learn. When an incident like this occurs, it shakes and scares us.

But it brings to light the chilling statistics surrounding depression and suicide at ASU.

According to a study released in 2006 by ASU Health and Wellness Promotion, 11 percent of ASU students seriously considered attempting suicide in the last school year and 1 percent made an attempt.

With a student body of more than 60,000 at the time, those percentages translate to 6,600 and 600 students.

These numbers are startling — far too common for what we may consider a random or rare act. And far too few are aware of the help they can get.

ASU and the surrounding community offer a number of resources. Each campus has counseling offices, Tempe’s is right in the Student Services Building. The Downtown campus offers services to the public as well.

After hours, students can call EMPACT, a 24-hour crisis line at 480-921-1006.

Too often we write off the stresses of college — or life. But now more than ever is it clear that stress and depression should never be belittled. The importance of counseling is not just an ASU issue.

National Public Radio aired a story on the need for increased counseling around the country on Monday morning, echoing an unfortunately similar story.

ASU announced it will have counselors available in the College of Design North building for several days after the incident.

While offering counseling services are certainly a necessity, the information released throughout the day by ASU, and the ASU Police Department, was not enough to address the situation.

One ASU Alert text message was sent out, telling students that a suicide involving a firearm occurred on the Tempe campus, and there was no threat to the campus. ASU Alert’s Twitter account was not updated with the alert.

Many were left with unanswered questions about the situation, and no updates from the system were sent out after the first text message.

With any incident involving violence, there is a significant impact on the entire student body, and it leaves us with insecurities and fears.

The University did little to calm students and faculty members seeking information about what happened to a peer in a building people use daily.

The media usually does not cover suicides as a general journalistic practice except in cases affecting the public. Because this tragedy occurred on an ASU campus, in front of a professor and involved an ASU student, it became clear that the story is relevant to our readers.

While we are devastated by the loss of a contemporary, we are relieved no one else was injured. We are shocked and hurt, and we truly sympathize with the professor and all those affected by Monday’s tragedy.