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Sara Hood
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Valerie Syverson
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2007-06-14
Description
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By Valerie Syverson, Co-Editor
Thursday, April 19, 2007
As anyone used to following national news knows, there's nothing quite so tailor-made for TV news as a school massacre like last Monday's. All other news is immediately superseded for footage of the scene of the tragedy, speeches from every dignitary that can show up, and, when there's no new footage, endless rounds of analysis from every pundit who isn't already booked somewhere else.
Naturally, opportunities abound for sensationalistic coverage, and to use words like "tragic", "senseless", "horrific" -- all of which, though of course applicable, have been diluted through decades of overuse and sadly no longer register as earnest sentiment. And, of course, there's the framing and the political football, and then the criticism of opponents for using a mass homicide as a football.
Sound familiar? It should -- to anyone else who wasn't living under a rock during the 2001 Littleton shootings.
So the editors of the Tech will, for this writing, refrain from adding one more to the long roster of responses expressing the obviously appropriate sentiments -- sympathy, concern, and grief. If you don't know the sort of thing I mean, you can read Dr. Chameau's article three columns to the right; his statement alone renders it superfluous to say anything of the sort in this space.
Instead, the concern that motivates me is over the way the news media has covered the event and its repercussions. Although the majority of responses have, of course, been those of decent human beings, there is a certain subset of the responses that are rather horrifying. The first that comes to mind is the slew of columnists who have ghoulishly seized upon the opportunity to lambaste their favourite targets, be that violent video games for giving people ideas, atheists for not praying at memorial ceremonies, or foreign nationals for (apparently) existing at all. But, of course, these random hearse-chasing political creeps are just columnists, not Real News.
More problematic are those news outlets which have seized on what, no doubt, they thought was a new and refreshing angle on the story by focusing on the first of his victims. Here we find headlines like "Gunman's Love Spat Sparked Massacre". However, the problem here is that the woman in question was never romantically involved with the murderer -- he just stalked her. That's right, the reporters mistook a stalking victim for a disdainful lover. Of course, there's a bit of overlap between the two as presented in many cultural narratives, but it should be possible to disentangle them in real life. when we can get different people's stories.
The most political spinning, though, has come in the area of gun control. (I assume this is because there's no way to restrict college students' access to violent music and games, so that usually-fruitful bit of blather is verboten.) And in fact, it has become apparent that the gunman got his guns quite legally and aboveboard. The bafflement at this from foreign news outlets is an amusing commentary on how bizarre the U.S. gun culture is from any outside point of view. But the gun rights advocates jumped on the story too; there are those who claim the tragedy would have been averted if more students were packing heat. The debate, of course, rages.
At least we can know that the world is the same old looney bin as always, because the Westboro Baptist Church is going to be picketing the funerals. Why? Unclear; their official releases say something about "the emissary of God's wrath". I assume it's just another chance for them to be on television. But I suppose the news media can rest assured that however inconsiderate, tasteless, and ghoulish they might be, they'll never outdo Fred Phelps.
--
Original Source: <a href="http://tech.caltech.edu/TECH/04_19_2007/article13.html"> The California Daily - April 19, 2007</a>
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Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu>
editor-in-chief, The California Daily
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News ghouls hit all the wrong notes
caltech
media coverage
new media
sensationalism
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Contributor
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Sara Hood
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Natalya Kostandova
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2007-06-14
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By Natalya Kostandova
Monday, April 23, 2007
The student body awoke Thursday morning expecting the day to bring much change to campus, largely in form of a couple hundred prefrosh who arrived throughout the day. Not many, however, expected to see the Fleming Cannon turn blue.
The colorful change, accompanied by the sounds of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65 coming out of a boom box across the Olive Walk, was quickly attributed to be Page's doing.
"We were very, very happy about how it worked out," said former Page president Sean Mattingly who, along with a handful of other Pageboys, painted the cannon. "We were afraid the color would come out turquoise, but it turned out a perfect blue. We were all amazed at how perfectly it matched our shirts. And I think the cannon looks better in blue than red."
Not everybody, however, was amused. Almost immediately upon discovering the prank, the Flems put on their reds, blared their own speakers at Page, and started stripping the blue paint off the base of the cannon.
Although the initial plan was to quickly paint the cannon back into its original red, the cannon was instead painted maroon and orange, colors of Virginia Tech. Rob Hunter, Fleming President, said, "We would not have otherwise considered painting it this way, but we took advantage of this opportunity to make a gesture towards Virginia Tech."
While some people have voiced their concern about the message that having a big gun painted in VT colors conveyed, Hunter explained that the cannon was meant as a tribute. He said, "The cannon is incredibly important to our House, and it is a symbol of honor. It is the most we have to give."
According to Mattingly, the timing of the prank, the idea for which had originated in the end of second term, did not have anything to do with the Prefrosh Weekend. "It just kind of worked out at that time," said Mattingly. "We had paint and we thought we should just do it." The painting started late Wednesday night and was finished before the wee of the hours on Thursday. The prefrosh arrived to Caltech campus later that day.
The cannon will now undergo a process of restoration to its original state. According to Hunter, all of the paint on the base has to be stripped off and the base has to repainted. In addition, some of the blue paint landed on the barrel and wheels of the cannon, which may require sanding of those parts.
"That was accidental," said Mattingly about the splashes on the wheels and barrel. "We tried to wipe off everything that we could see, but it was a hasty job and it was dark."
The Page prank was complete with three notes that Pageboys attached to the barrel of the cannon. One of the notes read "This is definitely a note," signed "Page," which is Page's signature on most of its pranks. The other two notes established the cannon as a Page House Phallic Symbol. The notes were removed by the Flems immediately upon their discovery of the prank.
--
Original Source: <a href=http://tech.caltech.edu/TECH/04_23_2007/article1.html> The California Tech - April 23, 2007</a>
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Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu>
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Page pranks Fleming cannon
caltech
memorials
prank
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Sara Hood
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Jean-Lou Chameau
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2007-06-14
Description
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By Jean-Lou Chameau, Institute President
Thursday, April 19, 2007
We live in a time when tragedies occur almost daily in the world. They trouble us; however, many of them seem so distant that they do not affect us deeply, although they should. The tragedy experienced yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus is one that is affecting all of us more deeply because it took place in a community we understand and cherish. Violence of young people against young people is tragic--impossible to truly comprehend, but especially shocking in a university environment. The university years provide a unique period in the lives of young people, a period when they can learn, experience, and interact with others in freedom and safety. Our thoughts today should be with the Virginia Tech community, and especially with the families of the victims. We grieve for them. As we learn to adjust to this event, our commitment and energy should remain focused on assuring that universities like Virginia Tech and Caltech remain safe, free environments where young people can prepare themselves for life.
--
Original Source: <a href="http://tech.caltech.edu/TECH/04_19_2007/article14.html"> The California Daily - April 19, 2007</a>
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eng
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The California Daily
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Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu>
editor-in-chief, The California Daily
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Caltech grieves for VA Tech student victims
caltech
campus response
letter from president
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Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Contributor
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Sara Hood
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Yang Yang
Date
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2007-06-14
Description
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By Yang Yang
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Some found out when they checked the morning news, only to be greeted with horror; others learned about it when concerned parents began calling. The rest discovered the gruesome news when fellow students began discussing it.
By lunchtime Monday, every student at Caltech was well aware of the two shootings which left 33 dead that occurred earlier that day at Virginia Tech.
"I first found out about this when my friend began talking about it at lunch," junior Henna Kermani said. "At first I couldn't believe it."
For Ricketts RA Amy Eastwood, a Virginia native, the shootings struck a little closer to home.
"My initial reaction was shock. I kept checking back [and] the number of casualties kept increasing and increasing. It was so sad, an RA was killed. He was a triple major, member of the band, 4.0 kind of guy. Why?" she asked.
Inevitably, some began to wonder about whether such a massacre could happen at Caltech.
"Obviously, I imagined whether or not it could happen here," sophomore Cliff Chang said. "It's the same as the reaction to Columbine, [you wonder] if any of the other students you don't really talk to is thinking about [shooting everyone]."
To address potential concern, a campus-wide gathering was held on Tuesday. There, chief of security Gregg Henderson and director of counseling Kevin Austin addressed the handful of people who showed.
Security looks to expand immediate notification list
According to Henderson, Caltech is one of the safest schools in the U.S. The campus has rarely seen violence, much less deadly shootings. The last fatal incident on campus occurred in April 1994; no students were involved or harmed in the event.
The Institute has emergency response plans for shooter situations, but Henderson could not disclose any details.
Coincidentally, Caltech emergency dispatchers underwent training two weeks ago for emergency conditions such as a shooter on campus.
"We just went through training with our dispatchers on those exact things, gathering information, making sure proper notifications [are made] to agencies outside of Caltech that we may need to bring in," Henderson said.
New mass notification system being put in place
A major concern raised by the Virginia Tech shootings is timely notification of crimes in hopes of preventing more harm.
The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, better known as the Clery Act, mandates that universities "shall make timely reports to the campus community on crimes considered to be a threat to other students and employees ... that are reported to campus security or local law police agencies. Such reports shall be provided to students and employees in a manner that is timely and that will aid in the prevention of similar occurrences."
In the case of Virginia Tech, mass emails were sent to students two hours after the first shooting, some argue that time gap was too long.
Caltech recently began subscribing to a mass notification system called ConnectEd, which is capable of sending alerts through email, phone and text message.
However, currently the system only sends notifications to members of the crisis management committee, a "representation from across the campus, from student affairs to faculty, to counseling," according to Henderson. Members include Dean John Hall, Assistant VP of student affairs Erica O'Neal, and Assistant VP of Campus Life Tom Mannion.
There has been talk of adding the rest of Caltech to the ConnectEd system.
"We anticipate beginning to populate ConnectEd with the entire campus, students, faculty, and staff in the near future," Henderson said. "[To do so] we will need community members to submit the various methods that ConnectEd uses for communication, including e-mail, home and campus phones, cell phones, and text to us. More information about the system will be provided as we move forward with the project."
The best course of action when one suspects a shooter is to inform security, not trying to intervene, according to Henderson.
"We are a very secure campus, I can provide security," he said. "I can put people out there to patrol the grounds... [but] people need to communicate with us, if you have something that feels suspicious, [if] your initial reaction is [that] something's not right, call us immediately, let us come in and figure out what's going on."
Counseling center emphasizes help, not fear for mentally ill
Austin emphasized prevention at the campus gathering on Tuesday. By identifying troubled individuals and getting them counseling and professional help, he said, violent incidents with trouble individuals can be prevented.
Changes in one's behavior may highlight deeper issues.
"It's easiest [to notice change] when you already have a relationship with a person, because you have a baseline of what's normal for them," Austin said. "Perhaps the person stopped going to class, stopped going to dinner, they seem much more pessimistic, quieter, less responsive [and] less interested than what they used to be."
The counseling center regularly handles students, 20% of the undergraduate population has been seen by the center, according to Austin. Most go to just talk about their issues, but three to 10 students a year are hospitalized for their own safety.
People with mental illnesses are not predisposed to violence and should not be treated like threats, Austin strongly stressed. These individuals need care, not fear.
"If you look at the Virginia Tech shooter, he was a loner and had a mental illness," Austin said. "Those two things alone don't predispose people to violence... [Things which may cause violent tendencies] are extreme trauma: witnessing something horrific, being an object of abuse or [the person is] subjected to violence themselves."
To reach out to someone who may be having trouble, Austin recommended opening a friendly conversation. Rather than trying to evaluate the person's mindset, just describe the changes the person is undergoing and express concern about the shift in behavior. Although one might think it's meddling to do so, the conversation may help immensely.
"The strength of this place is that students look out for one another, they should continue to do so," he said. "But sometimes there is reluctance to draw attention to someone needing help, encourage them to take the next step."
--
Original Source: <a href="http://tech.caltech.edu/TECH/04_19_2007/article1.html">The California Tech - April 19, 2007</a>
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Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu>
editor-in-chief, The California Daily
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Caltech mourns VT tragedy
caltech
campus response
crisis management