Lessons from Blacksburg
By Armin Rosen
PUBLISHED APRIL 19, 2007
It unfolded like a terrifying set-piece, and each new item of information seemed more trite and intuitive than the next: the killer had been a student. He had been a social outcast, homicidally contemptuous of the society that he felt had cast him out. The guns used had been purchased legally. And there had been warning signs that now seem to have stopped tantalizingly short of portending the coming carnage. "When this is all said and done," the online magazine Slate cited one blogger as writing a few hours after the shooting, "we will likely have an unhappy young person who probably had an unhealthy obsession with guns, violence, gory video games, and over the top blood-fest movies"-which means that, even in its horrifying randomness, the Virginia Tech shooting takes on a grim aspect of predictability.
But what should this predictability teach us? Since noted poet and Virginia Tech English professor Lucinda Roy found Cho Seung-Hui unstable enough to justify contacting campus counseling services over 18 months prior to the attack, it could be argued that universities and society in general should be more aggressive in administering psychological help to those who obviously need it. We Americans are great believers in therapy: with nearly one in four adults seeking professional help and Adderall alone bringing in over a quarter-billion dollars in annual revenue, we, arguably, have put more faith in the redemptive powers of the clinical or prescriptive than any other society on earth. But it would be a mistake to let this past week's events reinforce this notion that normalcy can be clinically prescribed, or, as some have recommended, clinically imposed. As author Deepak Chopra appropriately noted in an interview with CNN, psychologist Abraham Maslow maintains that love and belonging are as fundamental to human existence as food and shelter. And the professional concern of a therapist for her patient can't fill basic emotional or social voids any better than social relationships alone can cure mental illness.
Does this teach us that our society predisposes people to committing horrific killing sprees? I, for one, appreciate a certain irony in the fact that this event has ultimately strengthened the very community from which Cho felt so excluded. However, it is patently insensitive to blame the Virginia Tech community for excluding someone who was so invisible to it. And, by all accounts, Cho was not just invisible to those around him, but invisible to himself as well: by shaving off his weapons' serial numbers, carrying no identification, and committing suicide in a way that would obscure his most individual physical feature-his face-he argued against his own humanity and individuality. So if we are to blame the community as a whole for its exclusivity, then it would be disingenuous because we too fail to reach out to those in potential danger of lapsing into a permanent state of social and personal non-existence.
But is the existence of such people alone enough to teach us that our society is somehow structured to produce killing sprees like the one at Virginia Tech? In his seminal work, Suicide (1897), sociologist Emile Durkheim poses a similar question, and proceeds to argue that the social and historical consistency of the suicide rate proves the act to be an unalterable "social fact," built into the social structure. It's terrifying to think of the destructive confluence of mental instability, exclusion and a propensity for violence as one such "social fact." But reactions to the massacre suggest that that's exactly how a lot of people feel: for instance, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert blamed a "staggering amount of murders" on "feelings of inadequacy, psychosexual turmoil and the easy availability of guns." According to Herbert, the only item over which we, as a society, have conscious control is the last.
Yet, if we learn one thing from the Virginia Tech massacre, it should be the importance of using what sliver of control we do have. We can encourage people like Cho to seek the help they desperately need without expecting that help to be a cure-all. We can reach out to the socially alienated, and make an effort to acknowledge those people who we would usually ignore. We can also limit the availability of handguns. Most importantly, we can insist that this past Monday's event were not structural, and avoid lapsing into the kind of cynicism that might have made such an event possible in the first place.
Scores of Facebook groups have a name derived from the phrase "Today, we are all Hokies." The phrase was meant as a show of solidarity with a university suffering in ways none of us can imagine. But as long as we keep internalizing, tolerating, or even ignoring the factors that led to Monday's attack it, also functions as a cynical truth: we are all vulnerable. And in that respect, we are all Hokies.
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Photo By: Shana Rubin
Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24952">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24952</a>
Armin Rosen (Author)/Shana Rubin (Photo)
2008-02-18
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Letter to the Editor
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2007
Students Abroad Need Answers and Assurance, Not Silence
To the Editor:
We are two Columbia College students, currently studying abroad in Paris at Reid Hall. We just found out this afternoon, after a random discussion with British strangers, about the tragedy that took place yesterday at Virginia Tech. They described this event as "the biggest tragedy to happen to the United States since 9/11," and we still have yet to receive any sort of notice or e-mail from the Columbia administration in response to yesterday's horror. One of our friends, also a student at Columbia and currently living on campus, still did not know about the events. She was sitting in Butler Library completely clueless.
We feel it is the responsibility of the University administration to make a public response to an event of this magnitude, and especially one that hits so close to home with college students and our concept of university safety. Our aforementioned friend said, "I'm afraid this could happen at Columbia." We must take great care to do everything in our power to prevent this tragedy from repeating itself. A first step toward an informed discussion is a simple e-mail.
Kristin Francoz and Lydia Ross, CC '08
April 17, 2007
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24894">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24894</a>
Kristin Francoz and Lydia Ross
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Letter to the Editor
PUBLISHED APRIL 19, 2007
To the Editor:
I agree with Mara Richard ("Triumph Over Tragedy," April 19) that sexual assault occurs far too often to be tolerated. Richard proposes that Americans "start asking how we can create a culture where women don't have to defend themselves." What a wonderful world it would be if nobody ever had to worry about protecting herself or her possessions.
In reality, our society contains a critical mass of people who prey on the innocent and use force to overpower victims. Both the massacre at Virginia Tech and the brutal attack committed near Columbia illustrate the damage a single assailant can do. We may never know what prompted these thugs to action. Incarceration alone can ensure that they won't ruin more lives, and armed resistance alone would have stopped them in their tracks last week.
Clara Magram, Barnard '06
Apr. 19, 2007
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24955">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24955</a>
Clara Magram
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Public Safety Takes Over as Card-Swipers
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2007
Beginning today and lasting at least through the end of the semester, students will no longer work as card-swipers at the front desks of on-campus residences and Lerner Hall.
The change, announced yesterday, came in response to Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech University and is aimed at increasing security. According to Rosemary Keane, assistant vice president for communications in the Division of Student Services, students currently working at those desks will be reassigned and will not become unemployed. Columbia University public safety officers will take their card-swiping jobs.
"In response to Virginia Tech, our goal was to make sure that we have uniformed officers in each residence hall and in Lerner for the rest of the semester for added security precautions," Lisa Hogarty, executive vice president for Student and Administrative Services, said last night.
One student, who was working at the front desk of Lerner Hall last night and declined to be named for fear of losing her job, said that she felt the move would have little impact on security. "I don't like the idea of turnstiles, anyways," she said, noting that two of the three turnstiles were broken and that anybody can walk through without swiping. "If people really want to get into the building, they'll find a way."
In an e-mail sent to Columbia students last night, Hogarty announced that there will be a candlelight vigil at the sundial tonight at 9 p.m. in remembrance of the 33 students who died during the shooting. University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis is scheduled to speak. The University has also extended today's office hours for Counseling and Psychological Services until 11 p.m. today.
"The entire Columbia University community mourns the loss of these individuals and we send our prayers and condolences to their friends and families and to all the students, staff and faculty at Virginia Tech," Hogarty wrote in the e-mail.
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24884">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24884</a>
Editorial Staff
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
STAFF EDITORIAL: Providing Comfort
By
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2007
On Monday morning, 32 students at Virginia Tech were killed and about 30 others injured by a shooting at the hands of a fellow student. This tragedy raises questions about the nature of events like this and what Columbia might do in a similar situation. Yet the administration was slow in publicly responding to the event, and when it did, it failed to address the crucial question about what the University's response plan would be. The University should have expressed its sympathy, explained the counseling options available to students, and addressed safety concerns on Monday when the shootings occurred.
The tragedy hit especially close to home on campus-first, because the victims were fellow students, and second, because many students here have friends and acquaintances at Virginia Tech. The University's immediate response should have been to give some notification telling students where they could go for counseling if desired. Tonight a candlelight vigil will be held on Low Steps for the victims, and the Counseling and Psychological Services office will be open until 11 p.m. for students who need its services. This is a good step on the University's part, but it should have made those resources available more quickly and opened CPS for extended hours.
Questions have also been asked about how effective Virginia Tech officials were in securing the campus after the first round of shooting. Naturally, these questions raise concerns about Columbia's own emergency management plan and the safety and security of its campus. University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and Dartmouth College President James Wright have released statements offering condolences to the Virginia Tech community and providing information about the security of their respective campuses, as well as publicizing the counseling services that they have available. University President Lee Bollinger should follow suit and send an e-mail to the entire University explaining the details of its response plan.
Obviously, students do not need the University to hold their hands. But the University does have the responsibility to help them get through tragedies such as this and to encourage them to seek help if needed. Merely informing students more quickly of what counseling options were available would have been of significant help to students, as would have information about what the University would do if a similar crisis occurred here. Tonight at the candle light vigil, Columbia students will come together in solidarity. The University must do the same, providing students help and support.
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Originial Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24900">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24900</a>
Editorial Staff
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Sticks and Stones and Rhetoric
By Evan Cohen
PUBLISHED APRIL 26, 2007
Eleven years ago, I played in a band that rehearsed in a basement downtown. On one side of the basement was an illegal two-bedroom apartment that the landlord slapped together with drywall. My friend Matt lived there with a roommate. I didn't know anything about the roommate other than that he was black.
One afternoon, my bandmate, George, and I went down to rehearsal early and checked in on Matt. We were in his room talking about the then non-hit TV show, Homeboys in Outer Space. George was saying that it was a low rent rip-off of the Britcom, Red Dwarf. I chimed in with "It's more like Red Nigger!"
Matt hissed at me, "My roommate's home, stupid!"
Oh shit. I was going to die.
I never felt so low in all my life. I began to shake, and clenched my suddenly churning bowels to keep them from releasing. "Oh my god, he's gonna kill me!"
"Relax," George said.
We heard our drummer Michael walking down the basement steps. Matt opened the door and I walked out as quickly as possible. I didn't see the roommate. Thank god. Hopefully he didn't hear anything.
We played for two hours and I almost forgot the sickening feeling in my gut. As we were packing up our equipment, George said, "You have to apologize."
"What?"
"You have to apologize to Matt's roommate."
"But maybe he didn't even hear me say it!" I pleaded. "Like, what if he didn't hear anything and then it makes it look ten times worse!"
"You have to apologize."
Oh shit.
I slowly walked across the basement to the apartment, wondering if I'd soon have any teeth left. I knocked on the door, hoping that he was gone. The roommate opened up the door. "Yes?"
"Hi. I just... well... I want to apologize for something I said earlier in Matt's room, and I just want to let you know that I'm sorry if you may have been offended."
"Okay," he said, and shut the door. I then ran upstairs and out of the building.
Matt didn't talk to me for a long time after that. He would eventually tell me that relations with his roommate from then on were pretty awkward. We continued to rehearse there, but I never saw the roommate again. So what did I learn?
When I think about this incident, I still feel uncomfortable. Had Matt's roommate not been home, or even existed, it wouldn't have been an issue. It would have been just another comment. The difference was that I got caught, and all things considered, I got off pretty easy. I think that, worst of all, what I said wasn't even funny.
If you think I'm going to say that I learned my lesson and don't use language like that anymore, you're wrong. I still use "inappropriate" language, so much so that when the same word was symbolically banned by the NYC city council, I got half a dozen e-mails from friends saying, "So what are you going to do now?"
But I know when to say certain things and when not to (when I don't forget, of course). I know context. I don't speak the same way to my professors as I do to my friends, but I don't believe that certain words should "belong" to certain groups and not others. Language and humor shouldn't have limits. What's key here is the intent behind the words, and more so, behind actions.
Words were big news recently. For two weeks, pundits brimming with self-righteous indignation discussed whether Don Imus was within his bounds to refer to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." His defenders said that he was paid to be inappropriate and was just earning his paycheck, but he was ultimately fired.
On the afternoon of Monday, April 16, while the cable news channels were reporting the increasingly unbelievable details of the Virginia Tech massacre, Oprah was airing the first of a two-part town hall show all about Don Imus and the pain words can cause. I tuned in for about two minutes and it all seemed so silly. What caused more harm, three words on a radio show, or a mentally disturbed college student armed with two legally purchased firearms?
Before the shootings in Blacksburg occurred, Matee Ajavon of the Rutgers team said, "This has scarred me for life." I think there are 33 families who would take issue with that statement, not to mention the survivors who will suffer physical and psychological trauma for years to come.
We're quick to jump on people who say the "wrong" thing, whether it's Michael Richards' meltdown in a comedy club, or Joe Biden referring to Barack Obama as "clean." But does calling them out solve the problem? There are local politicians and police officials all over this country who would never use those words in public but who harbor true hatred. I'd be more worried about their abuses of power than what I heard on the radio.
So the next time you hear something that rubs you the wrong way, stop and think. Who's saying it, and what's the context? What was the real intent? Who is it really hurting, and what how does that hurt fit into the greater scheme of things? Words are just that, words. Actions cause real damage, but actions can also heal. Choose your action.
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/25087">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/25087</a>
Evan Cohen
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Students Hold Vigil for Va. Tech Victims
By David Xia
PUBLISHED APRIL 18, 2007
Approximately 300 students, faculty, and administrators gathered together at the sundial last night for a candlelight vigil held in memory of the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shootings.
University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis delivered a message of inspiration and hope to those gathered at the base of the sundial. Davis said that during this time of national mourning, it was crucial for members of the Columbia community to band together in solidarity and offer their condolences and prayers to those grieving over Virginia Tech.
"Life will always overcome the darkness of hate, despair, and violence," Davis said.
The undergraduate student councils provided 1,500 white candles, according to Ana Ortiz, CC '07 and Columbia College Student Council vice president of campus life, who spoke at the event.
As the candles were lit and the flames passed along in silent respect, those in attendance exchanged glances of support.
"We who believe in learning believe in hope," Davis said. "Light, when it is shared, overcomes darkness and spreads more light."
Only the soft pattering of the drizzling rain was audible as attendees, heads lowered in respect, observed a moment of silence.
Ortiz stated the names of the 32 students who were killed.
"One great thing about the Columbia community is that when a horrible incident like this happens, we are able to come together as a family," Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo said after the event.
For Mark Johnson, CC '09 and vice president of the CCSC class of 2009, the shootings in Blacksburg, Va. struck very close to home. Johnson, whose hometown is Virginia Beach, said it was unsettling to see such a tragedy occur at a place he considers home. "I'm happy we had something like this. It allowed me to vent," he said.
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Photo By: Key Nguyen
Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24914">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24914</a>
David Xia (Author)/Key Nguyen (Photo)
2008-02-18
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Students Mourn Va. Shooting
By Amanda Erickson
PUBLISHED APRIL 16, 2007
Columbians across campus expressed shock and outrage over the violent rampage on Virginia Tech's campus that left at least 32 students dead yesterday, the deadliest shooting attack in the country's history.
Students took a break from their daily routines to watch gruesome coverage, mourn, and show support as details were released.
"It's something that really has touched every single student at this campus," said Dan Okin, SEAS '07 and Engineering Student Council president.
The shooter, described as an young man of Asian descent, opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm at around 7:15 in the morning, killing one student and a resident adviser. Two and a half hours later, the man entered an academic building and moved ruthlessly from classroom to classroom, firing at students and faculty with two handguns, the Washington Post reported.
"I'm really at a loss for words to explain or to understand the carnage that has visited our campus," Charles W. Steger, president of Virginia Tech, told the Post.
Several Columbia students and all four of the undergraduate councils scrambled to pull together prayer services and candlelight vigils to express their grief and show their sympathy.
"It's a tragedy and I feel like any show of my support is important," said Justin Leung, CC '09. Leung and several other students will attend a prayer service in Lerner Hall today at 7 a.m. The impromptu service, which was advertised via Facebook invitation, aims to bring together students "whatever your religion, faith, belief, or background ... [to] show our support together to those who really need it right now."
The undergraduate student councils are working together to organizing a candlelight vigil for Wednesday night after sundown. Seth Flaxman, CC '07 and Columbia College Student Council president, said that the councils wanted to put together an event that would enable the University to come together.
"I've had so many conversations with students who are upset by this," Flaxman said. "I feel like this is the least we can do."
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24863">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24863</a>
Amanda Erickson
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Violence Without Reason
By John Davisson
PUBLISHED APRIL 16, 2007
Thirty-two dead and dozens more wounded in Blacksburg. A Journalism School student raped, cut, and burned in Hamilton Heights. These are the twin horrors—baffling, appalling, and without reason—that greeted Columbia's community on Monday.
Sadistic acts are lamentable and far-too-common features of the human experience. Each successive day brings with it reports of gut-wrenching atrocities, many on a greater scale than these two attacks, most eliciting a quieter outcry. But our empathy and fear operate in analogues, so it gives us special pause when senseless brutality impacts those bound to us through shared educational experience, whether at Columbia or a peer institution.
In these cases, we cannot help but ask why, how, and most alarmingly whether such incidents could recur, but the replies do little to diminish the widespread sense of confusion and grief. One wonders what train of thought led someone to butcher a room full of fellow human beings or brutalize a lone victim, but the causes seem to defy reason, and the savagery yields few good answers. Violence, author Jean Genet wrote, is a calm that disturbs you.
In the coming days, much will be said about prevention: what could have been and should be done to forestall such acts of cruelty. This is a good and crucial discussion, but, sadly, one that cannot erase the pain inflicted on the victims and those close to them. Time may bring a degree of distance and comfort, but investigation will only supply the how—never the root causes, the why.
We offer, as do all, our deepest condolences to those affected by these crimes, and we hope that the coming weeks will offer them some measure of healing.
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24875">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24875</a>
John Davisson
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng