Well-wishers react to Va. shooting
By Allie Lowe, The Dartmouth Staff
April 17, 2007
Braving the rain and wind, approximately 100 members of the Dartmouth community gathered on Collis porch Monday night to recognize the individuals killed in that morning's shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
The two shootings, the first of which occurred in a dormitory and the second in a classroom building, took place two hours apart and left 32, plus the gunman, dead. The event marks the most deadly shooting in U.S. history.
Monday night's vigil was organized by Haley Morris '08 and Heather Strack '07. Morris first had the idea to plan the event after receiving word of the events in an e-mail sent to her sorority, Sigma Delta.
"These are our peers in another institution and I thought that they shouldn't be alone right now," Morris said.
Other campus organizations, including the Tucker Foundation, the Panhellenic Council and several Greek houses, provided funding and support.
"This event was really pulled together by an interesting network of Blitzing," Strack said. "In an hour, it was done."
At the ceremony, Strack and Morris read excerpts from an e-mail received from Julie Walters Steele of Virginia Tech's Unions and Student Activities office, thanking Dartmouth for its support.
Following a brief moment of silence, the Ladies of Logos, an a cappella group comprised of members of the Gospel Choir, sang to the crowd.
"I'm really proud of Dartmouth," RuDee Lipscomb '08, a member of the Ladies of Logos, said. "[This event] restores your faith in the College."
After the event, students were invited to sign several large cards which will remain in Collis during the day tomorrow, and then be sent to Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
Dean of the College Dan Nelson characterized the administration's reaction to the event as "one of profound sorrow and shock."
"It's hard to imagine how any community deals with such a shocking, senseless, awful tragedy," Nelson said.
Though he emphasized Dartmouth's safety, Nelson said that no campus can consider itself resistant to all violence.
"We've all learned in reading newspapers and watching the news over the years that disturbed people can do senseless tragic things everywhere," Nelson said. "This is a relatively safe community, but in our lives none of us are ultimately absolutely protected or immune from something like that."
Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone agreed that the event shows that there exists the potential for violence in any community.
Giaccone said that the Hanover Police Department's officers are prepared to respond to events like those that occurred at Virginia Tech on Monday.
"Our officers are trained and are equipped to handle a dynamic event when it first starts," Giaccone said. "Although we have access to a SWAT team, putting a SWAT team in operation would be at least an hour's wait, so the officers that are on duty have to handle the situation, and go where the shots are being heard and try to neutralize it."
Giaccone did note one potential obstacle in the Police Department's response to an emergency.
"The College for whatever reason refuses to give police access to the dorms, so if the situation should arise on campus the police may be a little hamstrung in getting in and out of dorms should a situation like that occur."
New Hampshire, Giaccone said, has relatively lax gun laws as a result of a strong gun lobby. It is legal in New Hampshire, for example, to carry an exposed firearm, as long as the carrier does not have a felony record. Students wishing to have a gun at Dartmouth are required to store it with Safety and Security.
College Proctor and Director of Safety and Security Harry Kinne was unavailable for comment by press time.
Throughout the day on Monday, students, faculty, and staff sought to share updates and information about the tragedy.
E-mail with news updates circulated around many Greek houses, as well as among other campus organizations.
Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority president Abby Reed '08 said that members of her sorority sent out e-mails with updates throughout the day. Members were also encouraged to attend Monday's vigil.
"It obviously came as a big shock," Reed said. "It makes us aware of the dangers that go on at all college campuses, even though we all feel really safe here."
Many students were impacted by the parallels between Dartmouth and Virginia Tech.
"I've never cried watching the news before," Kelly McLaughlin '07 said. "It sounded so much like it could happen here in a way."
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Original Source: <a href=http://thedartmouth.com/2007/04/17/news/virginia/> The Dartmouth - April 17, 2007</a>
Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
Allie Lowe
2007-07-11
Sara Hood
"Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
eng
Va. Tech and the N.H. primary
By THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD,
Published on Friday, April 20, 2007
There is no easy answer to the question, What could have prevented the Virginia Tech massacre? Perhaps nothing could have been done. However, gun violence occurs every day across America and the ready availability of guns exacerbates the problem.
After Ali Abu Kamal shot and killed seven atop the Empire State Building 10 years ago, then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called for Congress to "do more" in monitoring the ownership of guns in this country. It is unfortunate that it takes tragedies of these magnitudes to jumpstart conversation about gun control, but gun control has been an issue long before the events in Blacksburg or Columbine or New York City. It is our hope that the heinous acts of one man on one college campus will awaken college students at Dartmouth and across the country to force this issue to the forefront of the national political arena - and that it stays there.
It's easy to present statistics seemingly demonstrating that the presence of handguns either increases or decreases senseless deaths. One thing is for sure: The debate here hinges on safety and the prevention of violence - not the peripheral goals of hunters and the gun industry. Guns are an unfortunate part of the American tradition. No one can seriously suggest that arming students or classrooms would be valid measures to combat violence. The non-sporting arguments against gun control contend that citizens should have the right to have firearms in their home to protect against intruders. No reasonable individual thinks people should carry weapons around. A rational measure that could help prevent another Virginia Tech massacre would be the institution of more in-depth checks and restrictions on those who want to purchase guns.
As for the Dartmouth community, we are in a unique position. Every presidential candidate who is serious about winning the White House will be visiting Dartmouth in the coming months. When they come, we must force them to address gun control. Research candidates' positions. Ask pointed questions. In the wake of the Virginia Tech attack, Giuliani, like many of the candidates, is now hiding behind the Second Amendment, declining to talk about ways to make this country safer. Regardless of where each of us stands, we should make it our duty to put the spotlight on gun control and force the candidates to do so as well.
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Original Source: <a href= http://thedartmouth.com/2007/04/20/opinion/vatech/>The Dartmouth - April 20, 2007</a>
Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
Editorial Staff
The Dartmouth
2007-07-11
Sara Hood
"Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
eng
Dartmouth Responds
A participant in Monday night's vigil ceremony, sporting a Virginia Tech hat, signs a giant card in Collis Cafe. It will be sent to the university Wednesday.
Photo: Maggie Goldstein/The Dartmouth Staff
Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
Maggie Goldstein
2007-07-11
Sara Hood
"Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
eng
Lessons from Blacksburg
By Richard Crocker, College Chaplain
Friday, April 20, 2007
To the Editor:
We mourn the deaths of students and faculty at Virginia Tech ("Virginia Tech gunman kills 32 in bloodbath," April 17). It is appropriate and natural that we should do so. We identify with the victims and their friends and families, because they are like us. They are students and staff at a university in a very pastoral location. Our own sense of security is threatened by this violence.
Already, in e-mails and blogs, I am hearing calls for greater college security, ranging from arming campus police to allowing students to arm themselves. Our sense of invulnerability at Dartmouth has, despite some very tragic events, remained rather strong. Last year I attended my son's graduation from a college in New York City; all guests went through metal detectors and had their belongings examined. This is, of course, a great contrast to the Dartmouth graduation.
While I understand that conversations about campus security will inevitably, and perhaps productively, occur, I hope that one important fact does not get ignored: senseless violence is horrible wherever it occurs, whether in Darfur or Israel or Palestine or Iraq. The deaths at Virginia Tech are devastating, but their number is a fraction of those being killed daily in Iraq or Darfur. This does not mean that we should grieve these students' deaths less; rather, it means that we should grieve all violent deaths more. And, unless our grief produces opposition to violence, it is futile. Every life lost at Virginia Tech was precious; the loss is incalculable. But every life lost to violence anywhere is equally precious. Let us remember, and speak.
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Original Source: <a href= http://thedartmouth.com/2007/04/20/opinion/blacksburg/> The Dartmouth - April 20, 2007</a>
Reprinted with the permission of The Dartmouth
Richard Crocker
2007-07-11
Sara Hood
"Edward D. Kalletta III" <publisher@thedartmouth.com>
eng