Comparisons between last year’s massacre at Virginia Tech and yesterday’s shooting spree at NIU already abound. Based on this rapid analysis in the Washington Post, however, it sounds as though NIU reacted to the incident fairly well:

Amid scenes that echoed the April 2007 assault at Virginia Tech by a student who left 32 people dead, Northern Illinois authorities said campus police were on the scene within three minutes. Within about 20 minutes, the school sent e-mail alerts instructing the university community to “get to a safe area and take precautions.” …
After the Virginia Tech killings, which took place in two campus locations, a state review panel criticized university administrators for not taking quicker action in shutting down the campus, saying it might have reduced casualties.