A year later (written on the first anniversary by an Alum)
Jay Pittman
Jay Pittman
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
eng
Before the permanent memorial
The Hokie stones on the drillfield before the permanent memorial was built
Megan Minter
Megan Minter
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
Norris classes moved
A sign posted on a door to Cheatham Hall directing students from Norris to their new classrooms in the aftermath
Megan Minter
Megan Minter
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
Bear Hugs
Free bear hugs set up in the Cheatham Hall student lounge shortly after Apr 16 2007
Megan Minter
Megan Minter
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
Drillfield tent
The sun shining over the tent full of memorials on the Drillfield one evening
Megan Minter
Megan Minter
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
No More Media
One of the signs that went up on the buildings around campus shortly after Apr 16 directing the media to stay out of the campus buildings
Megan Minter
Megan Minter
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
Memorial After Rememberance
View of the April 16 memorial with Burruss Hall in the background. Photo taken April 17, 2008.
Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
Brent Jesiek
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
Flags at Blacksburg Baptist Church
Flags at Blacksburg Baptist Church
Photo taken by Min Jae Lee, 9.18.2007
Min Jae Lee
G. T. Kim
eng
A Call For Remembrance and Prayer
Photo taken at Blacksburg Baptist Church 9.18.2007
Photo by Min Jae Lee
Min Jae Lee
G. T. Kim
eng
We Are Virginia Tech
Chris Berry
Brent Jesiek
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with The April 16 Archive in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on The April 16 Archive web site (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your submitted materials will only be available to approved researchers using The April 16 Archive. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
By submitting material to The April 16 Archive you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless The April 16 Archive and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the The April 16 Archive's use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation.
The April 16 Archive has no obligation to use your material.
You will be sent via email a confirmation of your contribution to The April 16 Archive. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. The April 16 Archive will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors.
When massacres are normal: guns and Virginia Tech
Binoy Kampmark
Brent Jesiek
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
eng
Grace Makes Beauty
Close-up of items at the April 16 Memorial site. Photo taken April 17, 2008.
Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>.
Brent Jesiek
Brent Jesiek
You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.
eng
Students Lie Down to Stand Up for What's Right
published: May 01 2008 06:01 PM updated:: May 01 2008 06:15 PM
University of Tennessee students who took their usual walk to their midday classes on April 16th, may have encountered a strange sight: 32 students dressed in all black laying down on pedestrian walkway. This 'lie down' was organized in remembrance of the victims of last years Virginia Tech school shooting as well as to protest easy gun laws.
The Virginia Tech massacre was the deadliest mass shooting to date, and consisted of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on April 16, 2007, which took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho ended his shooting rampage by committing suicide.
Jesse Matton, a UT sophomore from Northern Virginia organized the event. She extended invitations to people she knew and made a facebook group to advertise the event. She states: "I did it because I really wanted people to remember the victims and how much it effected all the students at tech." She recruited 32 participants, one to represent each victim of the Virginia tech shooting, for a three-minute lie down in the middle of the public walkway. She says, "We laid down for three minutes because that is the amount of time it takes to buy a gun in the U.S"
Matton's desire to organize this event came largely from the death of her friend, Reema Samaha, a victim of the Virginia Tech school shooting. A participant of the lie down, Sondra Ortagus, also a sophomore at UT and a long time friend of Matton says: "It was a very hard thing to look back on. I am glad we did it because hopefully people will start to realize that guns are too easy to get nowadays. Laws should be tighter so that incidences like Virginia Tech don't happen again."
Despite the many easy gun laws that are still being protested, the VT school shooting did lead to some tightening of gun regulations. The massacre led to rapid changes in Virginia law that had allowed Cho to illegally purchase handguns without detection by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Furthermore. It prompted the first major federal gun control measure in more than 13 years. President, George W. Bush, signed a law that strengthens the NICS on January 5, 2008.
One of the outstanding issues with gun control laws is the gap between state gun laws and federal gun laws. In Virginia for example, one can legally purchase one handgun every 30 days with valid proof of residency. A 1968 federal law prohibits those considered "mentally unsound" from buying handguns. Cho, having been declared a danger to himself by a court in 2005, did not meet this condition of mental stability and should not have been able to obtain the two semi-automatic pistols he used in the massacre. The state of Virginia failed to report Cho's mental health to the federally mandated NICS demonstrating an error in the system. Virginia Governor, Timothy Kaine, addressed this issue on April 30th declaring the importance of closing this reporting gap.
Discussion still rages about US gun laws in all states. The strength of background checks is in question as well as states ability to regulate gun laws successfully.
Further discussion is geared towards school safety in light of the presence of a handgun on Virginia Techs campus, which prohibits weapons. Of the 16 states that currently ban guns on college campuses, Several are weighing legislation to allow gun permit holders to carry concealed firearms. In March of 2008, so shortly after the terrible tragedy at VT Delegate Gilbert of Virginia attempted to pass a law allowing for concealed carry on college campuses.
This demonstrates that the fight for tighter gun laws is far from over, according to Matton, it is just beginning.
--
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License</a>.
Original Source: <a href="http://tnjn.com/2008/may/01/students-lie-down-to-stand-up-/">http://tnjn.com/2008/may/01/students-lie-down-to-stand-up-/</a>
Tennessee Journalist
2008-06-15
Brent Jesiek
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
eng
Engineering memorial
A memorial to the engineering students and professors in the lobby of Patton Hall.
Tony Rice
2007-04-24
Tony Rice
eng
Roses and Stone
Roses and a painted stone at the War Memorial. The stone reads: "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we loved deeply becomes a part of us."
Photo taken April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-06-06
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng
Everyday Heroes
A sign posted outside Blacksburg's First Church of God reads: "Thank you to our
everyday heroes."
Photo taken April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-06-06
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng
Gathering for the Remembrance Vigil
Crowds gather on the drillfield prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-06-06
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng
Preparing for the Remembrance Vigil
Candles are distributed prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance. Norris Hall is visible in the background.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-06-06
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng
Remembrance Vigil Crowd
A crowd grows on the drillfield prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-06-06
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng
Never Forget Stones
Memorial stones dry in the sun on the afternoon of April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance. The stones were painted at a "Remembering Through Art Creation" event in Squires Student Center.
Photo by Brent Jesiek.
Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>
Brent Jesiek
2008-05-30
Kacey Beddoes
Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
eng