Today We Are All Hokies by phantom-inker
Artist's Comments On a sunny warm morning on September 17, 1996, a young woman with a long history of mental health problems walked onto the Penn State campus, sat down under a tree on one of the most popular lawns on campus, took a seven-millimeter Mauser rifle, and fired five shots randomly into the crowd. Melanie Spalla was killed, Nicholas Mensah was injured, and two others later found bullet holes in their backpacks. When the bullets started to fly, Brendan Malovrh had the amazing courage to run not away from them but toward them; he wrestled the rifle and a knife away from the deranged Jillian Robbins and held her until police could arrive. Had he not acted so quickly and selflessly, Penn State could easily have suffered the tragedy that Virginia Tech is dealing with today. On my way to class, I walked right past the spot where Jillian killed a girl --- only an hour after it happened. If my class had been an hour earlier, I could have been right in the line of her sights. Today, we are all Hokies. Every alumnus who carries a degree and every student who studies in the quad, every professor who goes beyond the call of duty and every parent who worries about her child, we are all Hokies. Our hearts and prayers go out to you, Virginia Tech. By the grace of God we all hope that may never happen again anywhere. The Hetzel Union Building Shootings | The Digital Collegian, Sep 27, 1996 | Penn State Shooting in 1996 Hauntingly Familiar | Woman Pleads Guilty in Penn State Shooting -- This picture is of Ally, my centauress character, and I drew it in a single sitting of six hours during which I had a very hard time not crying. I'm offering it as a print, and it's my first (and only) print. Due to the seriousness of the situation, I'm also offering a version where Ally is human, which some people might prefer. Regardless of her species, the point remains the same: We're thinking of and praying for you and yours, VT. -- Original submitted to deviantart.com on May 12, 2007: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/55167862/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 License
Transnistria survivor Liviu Librescu killed in Virginia Tech massacre
During Tuesday's massacre at Virginia Tech, in the USA, a holocaust survivor with ties to Tiraspol was killed. Liviu Librescu had survived deportation from Romania to the killing fields of World War II's Transnistria. The territory was never part of Romania or of any independent Moldovan state. By Times staff, 18/Apr/2007 BLACKSBURG (Wires, Tiraspol Times) - Liviu Librescu, a Romanian-born Israeli professor, survived the killing fields of Transnistria as a teenager but fell to the bullet of a lone gunman in an American university campus Tuesday. The 76 year-old Holocaust survivor was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding off the gunman at his lecture hall entrance so his students could escape. Librescu was among the thirty-three people who were murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007. He was killed during a class in the Norris Hall Engineering Building by a student, Korean-born Cho Seung-hui, 23. At Virginia Tech, his recent position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Librescu held the door of his classroom shut while Cho was attempting to enter it; although he was shot through the door, he was able to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until his students had escaped through the windows. A hero to his students A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions, with one student, Asael Arad, saying that all the professor's students "lived because of him". Librescu's son, Joe, said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives and regarded him as a hero. His death came on Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. Liviu Librescu was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in the city of Ploieşti, Romania. During World War II, his native Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany and started an extermination campaign of Jews. His family was first interned in a labor camp in what the Romanians at the time called Transnistria and then transferred to the ghetto of Focşani. According to a report compiled by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romania's Nazi-allied regime during the war. Others put the number higher, pointing to Romanian attempts to whitewash the scope of the crimes it committed while it occupied Transnistria (today known by its official name, Pridnestrovie, or by English names such as Transdniester and Transdniestria). Anti-Semitic Romanians " - We were in Romania during the Second World War, and we were Jews there among the Germans, and among the anti-Semitic Romanians," Marlena Librescu told Israeli Channel 10 TV on Tuesday. From 1941 to 1944, Romania invaded occupied Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) which was a territory outside its own natural ethnic and historical borders. At no time in history was this territory ever part of Romania or of any independent Moldovan state, having also been majority Slavic and a traditional part of Russia or Ukraine. During the Romanian occupation, the area was used as a giant slaughter house of Jews. At no time did Romania ever attempt to formally incorporate the territory into any Romanian or Moldovan state, recognizing that the natural border had always been the Dniester River; today the border between Pridnestrovie and Moldova. Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust to become an accomplished scientist in Romania. He left the Romanian communist regime in 1978 after a direct request was made by the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, to President of Romania, Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. After emigrating to Israel, from 1979 to 1985 Librescu was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University. From 1985 until his death, he served as Professor at Virginia Tech. (With information from AP, Wikipedia) See also: » Romania whitewash of Transnistria invasion angers Holocaust survivors » Transnistria, the artificial name for "the Romanian Auschwitz" » Re-affirming independence, Tiraspol celebrates its liberation from Romania -- Original Source: http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/news/transnistria_survivor_liviu_librescu_killed_in_virginia_tech_massacre.html
Jason Cooper (jasoncooper@tiraspoltimes.com)
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:20:54 -0400 From: VTPolice@vt.edu To: Multiple recipients <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.VT.EDU> Subject: Police Presence on Campus April 14, 2008 To : The Virginia Tech University Community From : The Virginia Tech Police Department Wendell R. Flinchum, Chief of Police As you know, the Virginia Tech community will be honoring those affected by the tragic events of April 16, 2007 with a 'Day of Remembrance' on Wednesday April 16, 2008. In addition to the special ceremonies scheduled for this day, the university and the Blacksburg community will be hosting many other activities related to remembrance, recognition and healing. Further, our campus will be hosting several major events including women's softball on Wednesday, a concert at Burruss Hall on Thursday night, and our annual spring football game on Saturday. These events will, of course, draw many visitors to our campus and require significant resources from our police department. To ensure the timely and efficient delivery of our services, the Virginia Tech Police Department has decided to accept the generous offers of assistance from other law enforcement agencies in and around our community. Through these partnerships, the Virginia Tech Police Department hopes to create an environment of comfort and safety for students, faculty, staff, and visitors as they experience the events of this important week. The presence of these officers should not be seen as a cause for concern, but rather as yet another example of the support our university continues to receive. Should have any questions or concerns, please contact your Virginia Tech Police Department. Thank you. - end -
The Virginia Tech Police Department / Wendell R. Flinchum, Chief of Police
By Dr. Thomas Parham In the wake of the tragic events that occurred at Virginia Tech University, many in our community will be forced to wrestle with and confront some tough questions and concerns. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and families, as well as the broader campus community. No amount of planning and preparation can ever truly prepare one for the events that unfolded on April 16, and yet our thoughts cannot resist the tendency to delve into spaces that invite critical reflection and analysis about our own vulnerability to such a tragedy within the borders of this campus. Times like these challenge our individual and collective sensibilities as we seek to desperately cling to notions of life that are far more predictable, less scary and less unsettling. Our designs for living and patterns for interpreting reality have been shaken by this single act of horrific proportion, which dislodges us from our comfortable spaces of intellectual, emotional, behavioral and even spiritual comfort. As people struggle to cope with this horrific tragedy, it is likely that some will experience a broad range of emotional reactions, including anxiety, confusion, depression, insecurity, anger, resentment, sadness, vulnerability and fear. Some may experience difficulty sleeping, eating or concentrating on their studies. These feelings are normal and reasonable, and consistent with what mental health professionals predict. Over time, these feelings will diminish for most people. We want each member of our community to know that we are here for you in ways that ensure, to the best of our ability, your safety, as well as address your emotional and psychological well-being in this time of extreme distress. In recalling the incidents of last week, I want to invite each of you to resist the temptation to espouse what could or should have been done. Hindsight is always 20/20, and none of us really knows what it was like in the moments surrounding the tragedy. What I do want to encourage and provide is an invitation to explore the implications of this tragedy for our own UC Irvine campus and the psychological resources that are available to assist us, should some incident darken our door. First, no one can predict with absolute certainty if or when such a tragedy might occur or when individuals, whether reacting to normal life stressors or challenged to cope with some level of mental illness, are likely to erupt. We have little, if any, control over these events that so impact our lives. Fortunately, incidents like Virginia Tech or Columbine are relatively infrequent and it is important to remind ourselves that order is much more frequent than disorder and tragedy, and our blessings in life far outweigh our trials and tribulations. What we do control is how we manage our own spaces, and how we access and/or refer individuals to the resources that can help them better cope with personal or life challenges, particularly in times of moderate or severe distress. The UCI campus is blessed with a full array of mental and physical health and wellness services. The Counseling Center provides a broad range of mental health treatment that can deliver individual and group counseling and therapy, walk-in and triage coverage, consultation, psycho-educational workshops and training, and crisis intervention. Our Student Health Mental Health Clinic, in addition to the psychological interventions listed below, also delivers psychiatric assessment, pharmacotherapy and consultation. Our campus also boasts a Health Education Center that provides important information on healthy lifestyle support that can be useful in managing or coping with a tragic circumstance. Please encourage students to take advantage of these services. If you experience any of these symptoms or would just like someone to talk to, we invite you to contact the Counseling Center at (949) 824-6457 or the Student Health Mental Health Clinic at (949) 824-1835. For staff or faculty, we invite you to contact the Faculty Staff Counseling Center at (949) 824-8355. Do not be reticent about discussing emergency planning and personal-safety scenarios with your family, roommates and friends. Determine how you will communicate and plan for how you will physically reconnect. Having these plans will provide a focus for stepping through tragic circumstances and help to lessen our concerns about the unknown. UCI's Environmental Health and Safety Web site can walk you through this type of planning. We also control how we interact with colleagues and friends, and our ability to leave those interactions having helped create a positive space where people feel comfortable, cared about and affirmed for having been with us. A smile, or an encouraging word, goes a long way toward making someone's day. In addition to the tone of the conversation, we also control the quality of the interaction. How many times a day, in our interactions with friends and colleagues, do we fail to engage people in more genuine and authentic conversations? People respond to our queries about how they are doing with canned, almost robotic answers that suggest they are "fine." And yet, behind many of their replies is a staff, faculty colleague or student friend whose smile masks a deeper pain or hurt, or maybe just a hint of discomfort. You can make a difference in their lives by simply slowing down the questioning enough to get an honest and legitimate answer. If they are experiencing any distress, please refer them to a professional for help and assistance. Central to our campus values articulated so well by Chancellor Michael Drake is the value of empathy. Let us use this occasion to empathize with the victims, families, students and colleagues in Virginia and pray that their healing will be swift. Let us also allow these circumstances to remind us to engage each person in this UCI campus community with a level of compassion and caring that illustrates their importance to our university family. Thomas A. Parham is the assistant vice chancellor of counseling and health services and the director of the Counseling Center.
Por Thomas Sowell 28 de abril de 2007 ¿Cuándo ha abierto fuego un asesino múltiple contra una reunión de la Asociación Nacional del Rifle o contra un grupo de cazadores? Alguien decía recientemente que masacres como las de Virginia Tech o la del instituto Columbine son, en gran medida, un fenómeno propio de la década de los sesenta y posteriores. De ser así, estas tragedias pueden añadirse a la larga lista de desastrosas consecuencias de las excitantes ideas y extravagante retórica propias de aquellos años. ¿Qué había en la visión del mundo de la década de los sesenta que pudiera hacer concluir a alguien que es correcto disparar a personas que no le habían hecho nada? La culpa colectiva es uno de los legados de los años sesenta que aún permanece con nosotros. Aún estamos viendo cómo se intenta hacer sentir culpable por la esclavitud a personas que nunca fueron propietarias de un esclavo en su vida, y a las que la mera idea de poseer uno les repele. Allá por la década de los sesenta, se consideraba el colmo de la sofisticación entre la intelligentsia izquierdista decir que la sociedad norteamericana -todos nosotros, colectivamente- éramos en cierto modo responsables de los asesinatos de los hermanos Kennedy o de Martin Luther King. Durante los años sesenta se extendió como la pólvora la idea de que la culpa de que le faltara a alguien cualquier cosa la tenía otro, en concreto, la sociedad. Los pobres, ya fueran en Estados Unidos o en algún país del Tercer Mundo, eran "los desposeídos", aunque nunca hubieran tenido nada que se les pudiera haber quitado. Los disturbios en los suburbios que proliferaron por el país durante los sesenta fueron todos achacados a la sociedad. Esta visión se formalizó en un informe ampliamente elogiado sobre la violencia urbana por una comisión nacional "oficiosa" encabezada por el gobernador de Illinois, Otto Kerner. El presidente Lyndon Johnson también culpó a las condiciones sociales de la violencia urbana, afirmando: "Todos nosotros sabemos cuáles son esas condiciones: ignorancia, discriminación, pobreza, barrios bajos, enfermedades, insuficientes puestos de trabajo." Esta generalizada y excitante visión hacía innecesario rebajarse a examinar algo tan mundano como los datos, los cuales habrían incluido el hecho de que los disturbios urbanos tenían lugar con mayor frecuencia y violencia cuando y donde imperaba esta visión de culpa colectiva. Las ciudades sureñas, que en aquellos días padecían la discriminación y la pobreza más graves del país, no sufrieron ni de lejos tantos tumultos, ni tan graves, como las ciudades alejadas del sur. Detroit, que sufrió el más letal de todos los disturbios de los años sesenta, con 43 muertos, tenía una tasa de paro entre los negros del 3,4%, inferior a la tasa de paro nacional entre los blancos. Chicago, cuyo alcalde, Richard J. Daley, no se tragó los intentos progresistas de hacernos sentir culpables colectivamente, fue una de las pocas grandes ciudades del norte en escapar de la oleada de disturbios que recorrió el país en 1967. Este tipo de disturbios urbanos masivos que tuvieron lugar por todo Estados Unidos durante la administración de Lyndon Johnson pasaron a ser virtualmente desconocidos durante los ocho años de la de Reagan, que proyectaba una visión del mundo completamente distinta. Pero tanto entonces como ahora los hechos quedaban en un discreto segundo plano frente a trasnochadas visiones y su retórica radical. Si resulta que fueran otros los responsables de lo que quiera que esté ausente en su vida, arremeter indiscriminadamente contra gentes que no le han hecho nada personalmente puede sonarle razonable a muchos. Ya sean o no los asesinatos de Virginia Tech resultado de una demencia médicamente comprobable, lo cierto es que siempre ha habido personas dementes, pero nunca han tenido lugar masacres de este tipo con la frecuencia con que las llevamos sufriendo desde los sesenta. El control de las armas tampoco es la respuesta mágica, como sugieren con frecuencia el mismo tipo de personas que creen en la responsabilidad colectiva en lugar de la responsabilidad individual. Puesto que el asesinato es ilegal en todas partes, ¿por qué iba a obedecer una ley en contra de obtener armas -que son fáciles de conseguir ilegalmente- una persona que no está dispuesta a obedecer la ley en contra del asesinato? Uno de los muchos hechos obvios que pasan voluntariamente por alto las personas impresionadas por las visiones y la retórica es que las masacres tienen lugar casi siempre en zonas libres de armas, como escuelas, lugares de trabajo o casas de oración. ¿Cuándo ha abierto fuego un asesino múltiple contra una reunión de la Asociación Nacional del Rifle o contra un grupo de cazadores? En lugar de prohibir las armas, tal vez deberíamos volver a evaluar críticamente los dogmas que nos dejaron en herencia los años sesenta. Thomas Sowell es doctor en Economía y escritor. Es especialista del Instituto Hoover. -- Fuente Original: El Instituto Independiente http://independent.typepad.com/elindependent/2007/04/tiroteos_otra_h.html
Gabriel Gasave Reasearch Analyst Center On Global Prosperity The Independent Institute ggasave@independent.org august 01, 2007
Sign by Branch & Associates, Inc. on a building being constructed on Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus. Photo taken by Thomas Upton on April 24, 2007. Original Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/third/471697761/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic.
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Vigil for Virginia Tech, Cornell University, April 19, 2007 - Program and Remarks
From: Thomas W. Bruce [mailto:vpcommunications@cornell.edu] Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 3:58 PM Subject: President Skorton, Provost Martin, and Dean Fuchs in Remembrance of the Virginia Tech Tragedy Dear Friends, This afternoon witnessed a gathering of the Cornell community in Sage Chapel to honor the memories of the victims of Monday's tragedy at Virginia Tech. I would like to share with our entire Cornell family the program and the remarks of the three speakers: Dean W. Kent Fuchs of the College of Engineering, President David J. Skorton, and Provost Carolyn "Biddy" Martin. A video of the service can be seen on the web at the Cornell University home page: <http://www.cornell.edu> Tommy Bruce Vice President for University Communications THE PROGRAM A Service of Remembrance and Reflection for Victims of Virginia Technical Institute and State University Tragedy Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:30 p.m. Sage Chapel, Cornell University Ithaca, New York Prior to the service, the chimes of McGraw Tower rang thirty-three times in memory of each victim of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech on Monday, April 16, 2007. Prelude: Master Tallis's Testament Herbery Howells (1892 - 1982) Professor Annette Richards, University Organist Welcome and Remembrance W. Kent Fuchs The Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering Father of Eric Fuchs, Virginia Tech, Class of 2008 Music: 'In Paradisum' from Requiem Maurice Durufle (1902 - 1986) Cornell University Glee Club and Chorus Directed by Katherine Fitzgibbon Message David J. Skorton President, Cornell University Music: Panis Angelicus Rev. Heewon Chun Chaplain, Korean Church at Cornell University Reflection Carolyn "Biddy" Martin Provost, Cornell University A Time of Silence Postlude: Fantasia in G Minor J. S. Bach (1685 -1750) Professor Annette Richards, University Organist "We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly. We are brave enough to bend to cry, and sad enough to know we must laugh again." Nikki Giovanni Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor, Poet and Activist REMARKS BY DEAN KENT W. FUCHS Today the Cornell family joins with the Virginia Tech family in remembering the many students and faculty that unexpectedly and violently died this week. Our grief at this loss is profound because we are a part of the same family of students, faculty, and staff. Like those at VT, Monday morning we were in class, taking exams, giving lectures, and sharing with Virginia Tech students and faculty in the hard work but great joy of learning and teaching. Many in the Cornell family have very personal connections to VT. Some of you have studied, lived, and even have grown up in Blacksburg. A number of you have degrees from Virginia Tech. Others of us have colleagues, friends, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons now at VT. My first visit to VT four years ago was with my son, Eric. He was looking for a good engineering school, but one that wasn't too close to his parents at Cornell. On that first visit Eric and I were immensely impressed by the people of VT and the peaceful beauty of the campus. With Eric now studying Engineering at VT, I have come to greatly appreciate the VT family. The students and faculty care greatly for each other and have an immense loyalty to their university. I have also come to appreciate, through my son, what it means to have a Turkey as your school mascot, to have statues of a Turkey in town, and to call yourself a Hokie, which my son does with enormous pride. He loves the campus, his studies, and the people of that university. The unspeakable tragedy of this Monday morning in Norris Hall and West Ambler Johnston Hall is particularly difficult to comprehend, because of its scale, because of its stark contrast to the peaceful beauty of VT's campus, and the love and care demonstrated by VT's students and faculty. The tragedy is also an enormous contrast to the common mission that we share in the joy of learning and teaching. It will take many years before we will be able to see how the good resulting from this tragedy could possibly be greater than the pain of this week. Although I have not experienced the depth of loss now present at VT, I do pray that I will become a better person because of this week. I pray that I will value more greatly the enormous privilege of being at a university with students, staff, and colleagues. I pray that I will more dearly love the students, staff and faculty on this campus and will work more diligently to serve others. I will close by reading a few words from my colleague, the Virignia Tech Engineering Dean, Richard Benson. I have been in his office on the 3rd floor of Norris Hall, the floor above where most of the deaths occurred. I was at a meeting with Dean Benson Monday morning in another city when he received the urgent message about the first shootings. Here is a part of what Dean Benson wrote to his Engineering students and faculty: "My heart aches for the lives of the students lost. These bright young men and women were in the prime of life, planning for rich, fulfilling futures. They came to Virginia Tech to acquire an education; an education that would forever change their lives... "The murdered faculty members had devoted their lives to scholarship and education. They so beautifully embodied Virginia Tech's motto of Ut Prosim - that I may serve. "Virginia Tech is a noble place. It is a nobility born of our great Land Grant tradition, a nobility born of a place of learning. Young women and men - many of modest beginnings - come here to learn. We ask that they work hard - and they do "While our loss is huge and our grief unbearable, the nobility of this great community of scholars is undiminished. Those of us that survive, and those that will come after will continue to dedicate themselves to teaching and learning. And we will never forget the friends that we lost. As long as there is a Virginia Tech they will be remembered. They are more than friends. They are family." We are here as members of the Cornell family. But this week we are also members of the VT family. This week it is an honor and a privilege join with those at VT and to call ourselves Hokies. REMARKS BY PRESIDENT DAVID J. SKORTON We Are One We are one; one community, one people, one planet. We are here today to affirm that one-ness and to draw strength from each other, to find peace in each other, to care for each other and to share our love. We are one. We are here to bear witness to the passing of the 33 members of our family at Virginia Tech University who have met an untimely and terrible fate. We are here for all of those who are gone, for all 33. We are here for the 32 who have passed from the immediate to another place, not by their own choice. We are also here for the 1 who has also passed. We are one. We are here to join arms and hearts with the families, friends and colleagues of all of these individuals. We are here to join with our friends in the Korean and Korean- American communities for we are all one family, most especially today we share the same sorrow and the same need for comfort and reassurance. We are one. We are here to recognize that there are many issues to discuss, many plans to be made, many disagreements to be settled, causes to be sought, remedies to be conceived -- but not today, not now. Now, we are here to comfort and be comforted, to remember. We are one. We are here to seek meaning, to make sense out of the senseless, to somehow find a way to move forward. We are here to find courage, to find a way to still believe in tomorrow, a tomorrow without fear, a tomorrow that still has endless possibilities. We are here to affirm the importance of openness on our campuses, the openness that permits us to be together in this way, in this place, at this time. We are one. We are together today to look both backward and forward, to look both within and without, to look at the person next to us and at ourselves, to find our bearings, our place. We will stay together, we will go forward together, we will never forget our loss. We are one. REMARKS BY PROVOST CAROLYN "BIDDY" MARTIN On Monday morning I was in my native Virginia at my mother's home when word began to break of the shootings at Virginia Tech. On the local Roanoke news, there were anchors who were graduates of Virginia Tech, and we received the news from people who knew and loved the campus. One of the many things that struck me in the coverage that day was the dignity of the students who were approached for interviews--their humility, their respect, their unwillingness to offer superficial commentary, and their resistance to easy analysis and the assigning of blame. In their responses to questions, they made a plea, sometimes implicitly, other times directly. What did they ask of the journalists and, also, of us? That we not reduce their university or their experience of it to this horror, this unspeakable tragedy, that Virginia Tech not be defined only by that spectacular phrase that we have heard so often since Monday-"the biggest massacre in U.S. history." In their efforts to defend against this stain, the students kept open a space of thought and reflection. The media rushes, understandably, to cover the event, and the events become spectacle, compounding the effects of depersonalization as journalists and the public press for immediate and abbreviated responses and analyses. How extraordinary, under those circumstances, were the efforts of the students and alumni to express their love of Virginia Tech, of one another, to hold open the gap between their experience of the place and the violence and death that were coming to define it. They had been robbed of friends, of classmates, and of teachers; they had had the taken-for-granted safety of the dorm room and the classroom shattered. They have lost for now a sense of safety in the thrilling openness of university campus. They did not want, in addition, to be robbed of their experience of the place or their attachment to it; did not want their murdered friends, classmates and teachers to be remembered only for the horrifying way in which their lives were taken. Just as the names and stories of the victims began to give a human scale and texture to an otherwise surreally traumatic and depersonalizing event, so, too, the students' reserve and their claims to the totality of their experience and attachment began to restore to them all that they have learned and loved at Virginia Tech. In their expressions of pride, they fight to have life and attachment prevail over the isolation, illness, and rage that appear to have been major factors in this horror. It is not difficult for Cornellians to answer the students' call, to attach to Virginia Tech, out of compassion, and with a capacious understanding of what Virginia Tech is and what it represents. Like Cornell, it was founded in the 1870s as a land grant university, and it is beloved throughout the state of Virginia for its remarkable contributions for over a century and a quarter to the state, the nation, and the rest of the world. It is nestled among some of the most beautiful and gentlest mountains in the Appalachians, and even in this cold Virginia April, has already displayed wild profusions of yellow forsythia and daffodils (or jonquils, as my mother would say), pink and white dogwood, and the beginnings of that splash of color that only azaleas can produce in the turn toward Spring. It is a university with a great faculty and great students, proud, in particular, of its Agriculture and Life Sciences, its engineering, and creative writing, the liberal arts, and its outreach and extension, proud, too, of its legendary athletics teams. It is beloved, as I have said, not only by students, faculty, staff and alumni, but by the entire state of Virginia, even those who choose the University of Virginia in the great rivalry between Virginia Tech Hokies and Virginia Cavaliers that is one of Virginia's great sports. This week, everyone is a Hokie fan. Already on Monday and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, counties all over Virginia were covered with Hokie colors, Virginians having donned Virginia Tech sweatshirts and hats, some spontaneously, some at the urging of the churches that were holding vigils. At the convocation in Blacksburg on Tuesday, poet Nikki Giovanni used her poetic genius to invoke, indeed, to activate a healing sense of community and of perspective, linking the tragic deaths and injuries at Virginia Tech to other tragedies in other parts of the world, and emphasizing that none of them was deserved, also repeating, as incantation, the words: "We are Virginia Tech," the emphasis on the word "are," signaling the fact of being, of continuity, and a commitment to life and to community. "We will prevail," she said, but not by moving on, not by denying our shock or the many dimensions of grief. We will prevail, she seemed to be saying, by going straight through the effects of horror, together. Here at Cornell let us remember what unites us in our shared humanity, our shared vulnerability, our capacity, indeed, our responsibility to attach to others, especially the most isolated. Let us also risk even, and today, especially, a certain hokiness. May life and attachment prevail over isolation, social deaths, physical death, and violence, everywhere. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance of Monday's victims.
Thomas W. Bruce, W. Kent Fuchs, David J. Skorton, Carolyn "Biddy" Martin
Campus in shock - UHM advances alert system
Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News By Tiffany Hill Ka Leo Associate News Editor With the horrific massacre shooting that occurred Monday at Virginia Tech, many universities, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa, have turned their focus onto whether they would be prepared for similar situation. The person most in charge of coordinating disaster relief efforts is Mel Won, the UH Emergency Planning Coordinator. Emergency planning includes a variety of emergency types, from natural disasters such as the earthquakes last October, to terrorist attacks and school shootings. The university has also recently taken steps for a more advanced campus-wide alert notification. "ITS purchased the automated notification service that opens up to all the campuses ... we are in the process of putting together and creating the procedures so it can work," said Won. Won is currently undergoing training in the U.S. Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program in order to receive federal funding for the university's emergency planning program, including funding for expenditures such as an emergency response center, which is currently a conference room in Hawai'i Hall. "[The training] encompasses all kinds of disasters," said Won, but added that it does not necessarily focus on shootings. The program is focused on training Won to be prepared in civil emergency management. Won said that the shooting in Virginia is an isolated case but that the UH emergency plan has included provisions for terrorist attacks. According to the emergency planning Web site, a mass casualty shooting falls under the category of terrorist attacks. "The emergency plan is supposed to encompass all types of disasters," said Won, but added that all types deserve equal attention. "I think [being prepared for a school shooting] is something that the university will work together and decide what to do. This is something that is a priority and I can tell you right now that it is a priority of the administration," said Won. Won added that some time this month, the university is going to test an alert roster, in which administration officials on a phone tree roster will notify each other as if it was a real emergency. Won is also working with the State Civil Defense concerning hurricane disaster preparedness. Won's recommendation for students is to become familiar with the emergency plan as it continually being further developed. Overall Won said he feels the campus is safe. "The worst thing I see is a hurricane [happening on campus]," adding they are improving preparedness regarding natural disasters and have more experience in this area with the floods in 2004, and the earthquakes last semester. Campus Security "If a similar situation happened hear [like at Virginia Tech] our protocol would be to secure the scene of the shooting. We would set up a perimeter and secure the area and ... [and then] we would contact HPD," said UH Campus Security Chief Neal Sakamoto, who added that they have a good working relationship with the Honolulu Police Department. Sakamoto stated that once the scene of the incident is secured, Campus Security would notify the administration, such as UH interim Chancellor Denise Konan, as they would authorize Campus Security operations and also notify the remaining campus. Sakamoto said, in shooting cases a mass email would be sent to all students and faculty. "We also have telephone notification for the different deans of the different colleges and the would have to notify the rest of the faculty, staff [and] students as fast as possible. We do not have a [public address system]. He stated that the university wants to get a PA system and have discussed its advantages and begun to research prices. "One of the things we noticed after the blackout and earthquake in October was we didn't have a way to notify everybody especially because the power went out so the email went down, then the phone system went down and presently our vehicles don't have any kind of PA" The PA system on the Campus Security vehicles would allow them to prerecord messages for the different types of emergencies and then during would allow them to drive around campus broadcasting the message. Sakamoto said he believes that, given the situation and probably limited amount of information, the Virginia Tech Campus Security responded in the best way possible. "The university has the system now besides the mass email where we can notify people by cell phone, or blackberry or whatever. We [Sakamoto and Won] have been working on that trying to set up the system so we can do a notification with the rest of the campus," Sakamoto said. Like Won, Sakamoto and his staff are continuing to train in natural disaster preparedness as well, but that they are also discussing terrorist emergencies like a school shooting even though the Virginia Tech campus shooting was the first of its kind. "It was a rare occurrence and an unusual occurrence, but no matter how much police or security we have we can't prevent everything, we just try to do the best we can," said Sakamoto. "I pray it never [happens here] but I can't say it won't." -- Original Source: The Voice - Ka Leo http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/04/18/News/Campus.In.Shock-2848704.shtml http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/04/18/News/Campus.In.Shock-2848704-page2.shtml http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/04/18/News/Campus.In.Shock-2848704-page3.shtml
A book in Modern Languages that will be sent to Virginia Tech from the University of Waterloo. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timalamenciak/479024375/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
Tim Alamenciak http://www.flickr.com/photos/timalamenciak/479024375/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
Senator Jim Webb arrives at the Blacksburg Airport. Photo Courtesy of Garry Thompson
tim kaine, governor of virginia, blacksburg airport
Permission Garry Thompson sthomp2813@aol.com
The Student Senate President of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey addresses members of the college community attending a memorial service honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Part of the overflow crowd attending a memorial service at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
At Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Vice President for Student Affairs Joseph Marchetti offers words of condolence at a memorial service honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Flowers planted around and ribbons placed on 33 trees at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Each ribbon bears the name of a victim.
Note: I found writing this piece to be a way of channeling my own anger at the massacre this morning. But I recognize that anger is only one part of the grief process. Please join me in praying for the families and friends of those killed. American worships the gun. Today, 33 more were sacrificed on the altar of our devotion to the gun. Specifically to semi automatic handguns. There are already dozens of articles from disciples arguing that the massacre today at Virginia tech could have been avoided if some of the students had been carrying guns so they could shoot the killer before he killed them. We trust the gun more than we trust God. The brutal reality of our gun fetish is that selling guns and ammo is highly profitable. But it is not simply the fact that the market values short term earnings from gun sales more than the social, cultural, political and long term economic damage that gun violence does to our society. More importantly, the gun industry long ago learned to effectively invest their short term earnings into the social, political and cultural sphere. Their investments in the NRA, especially since 1977 years have returned 10 fold and the results are a culture in which gun ownership is intimately connected with the values of self-sufficiency, responsibility and security that so many Americans identify with. We'll call these frontier values. As much as we'd like to wish that the new Democratic congress would seize on this moment to pass some common sense gun laws, the reality is that many of the new members of Congress were partly by actively courting those with frontier values. Unless their constituency shows signs of disconnecting handguns from frontier values, any vote for limiting the sales of hand guns will be doomed. It may be that changing our gun culture requires looking at movements that have successfully challenged large corporations with large amounts of cultural capital. The anti-smoking movement comes to mind. The last 30 years have seen a drastic shift on the public perceptions of smoking. The parallels are striking. The right to smoke was once also closely associated with frontier values. The industry also heavily invested in cultural, social and political institutions to maintain and promote the cigarette. For a time it seemed that they were effective. But these days its very hard to find anyone in political office trumpeting the rights of smokers. What were the tactics and strategies of the anti-smoking lobby? They brought law suits by second hand smokers against big tobacco. Unfortunately a law passed in 2005 protects the industry from any parallel suits. Another tactic of the anti-tobacco movement was its relentless funding of anti-smoking advertising. Through memorable add campaigns they have gradually associated with smoking with disease and decay. It seems this solution has much potential given the brutal reality of gun crime. Is the anti-gun lobby much less well funded? Have they not found the right message? Of course, part of the anti-smoking victory can be attributed to the scandal of Tobacco companies lying to consumers for many many years. This highlights a major difference between gun industry and the tobacco industry is that gun manufacturers are much less visible in the debate then big tobacco was. The NRA is by far the most visible and powerful gun lobbying organization. The wikipedia article on Smitth & Wesson tells the interesting story of how gun owners turned on the hand that fed them after Smith & Wesson was seen to have compromised on gun control. But there is hope. In the United Kingdom after the Dunblane Massacre, more than 700,000 Brits signed the Snowdrop petition calling for a total ban on the private ownership and use of handguns in the United Kingdom. The petition led to the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 which completely banned handguns in the UK (this was the final in a long series of hand gun control laws) According to a report from the home office, from mid-2005 to mid-2006, only 49 people were killed by handguns (Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005/2006, page 36). This is a rate of roughly 1 per million compared to 55 per million in the US (FBI 2004 Crime report). It turns out that a mandatory five-year jail term for carrying a hand gun does have an effect. I lived in the UK from 2004 through 2006 and noticed that fatal shootings were so rare that they regularly made the national newspaper. People take the hand gun ban for granted and find the gun religion in our country to quaint and strange. On one of my first evenings in the UK I watched a documentary in which a UK reporter went deep into US gun country and interviewed gun disciples. It was like watching an exotic safari. Change is possible. Massacres like the one at Virginia tech do not need to be a reoccurring horror in our headlines and our lives. Let's work together to end our worship of the gun. This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 6:44 pm by TimN -- Original Source: Young Anabaptist Radicals Blog http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2007/04/16/the-altar-of-the-gun/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5
Issue Date:Tuesday April 17, 2007 Section: Sports Section By Tim Tassa, Sports Editor Monday morning's events make sports seem so petty, so irrelevant. Every year there are one or two tragedies of monumental proportion that unite people and draw to mind that there is more to life than a rivalry, a goal post, a field and a coach. And, unfortunately, April 16, when at least 32 people at Virginia Tech were killed by a deranged gunman, was one of those days. It marked the beginning of a time to reach out to the Virginia Tech community, for so many at West Virginia University - through geography, friends and family - are connected to the institution. The day after the deadliest shooting on a college campus in United States history brings nothing but disbelief, outrage, curiosity and grief. As we often do during times of bewilderment and mourning, we ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" And still, there is no answer. As a University that is familiar with Virginia Tech, whether on the playing field, academically or socially, it is only human to keep southwest Virginia in our thoughts just a day after such a disaster. But the effects are much more widespread. After the images displayed on network television, Monday's violence will be remembered just as the Kent State, University of Texas and Columbine shootings - except at an even larger level. In addition, the events may be a catalyst for change in the way higher education is conducted nationwide. Or at least in security procedures. For those of us sitting in large lecture halls and residing in campus dormitories, the anxiety and horror of what happened in Blacksburg, Va., doesn't seem very far. The realization is that tragedies of this magnitude can happen on any campus, big or small. For current WVU students, sitting in class today will feel much different than it did last Tuesday. In speaking with a few VT students on Monday, the realities of the events had yet to hit them. By day's end it surely had. It was certainly felt by VT's most familiar face. "How could one person cause so many senseless deaths? I'm in shock," said head football coach Frank Beamer, according to espn.com. "This is such a caring, friendly place. This is a college town. And now one person has an impact like this?" But on a day, and by a person whose words are normally revered, his thoughts were no more telling than the voices and words of the students who called in on CNN to tell their stories. In watching the cable network, a Virginia Tech student, Matt Waldron, was interviewed and spoke of his interactions with well-wishers and friends. Among them: a U.S. Soldier in Iraq who ironically faces similar dangers daily. And in watching Monday's death toll grow from 22 to 25 to 30 to 32, I wondered why the deaths in Iraq do not collect the same disbelief, outrage, curiosity and grief. But as violence in war is unfortunately expected, bloodshed in the classroom is unimaginable. timothy.tassa@mail.wvu.edu -- Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27545
Virginia Tech vigil held on campus today
Issue Date:Wednesday April 18, 2007 Section: State & Local Section The Student Government Association is hosting a candlelight vigil tonight to mourn the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech. Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech began at a residence hall and moved across campus to Norris Hall, the university's engineering building, leaving 33 people dead and many injured. The shooting is considered the worst mass killing in U.S. history. Throughout the day, students can send messages of hope on a banner in the Mountainlair. SGA will also be handing out orange and maroon ribbons, in support for Virginia Tech, according to a press release. The vigil will then take place tonight at 9 p.m. in Woodburn Circle, weather permitting. "We want to do our part on our campus to extend our condolences to those and their families at Virginia Tech," said SGA Vice President Jason Parsons. "We encourage all students and those in the community to come out." SGA President David Kirkpatrick and President David C. Hardesty are scheduled to speak. — tmf -- Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27582
My mortality, there it is, right there in my mind. I feel the fear of loss of life. How close proximity to death, to my own death, I have come. At first, as I discovered the reality of the killing that had happened at Virginia Tech, where I work and rarely teach, I wondered how is it that I'm 1700 miles away in the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean. Why aren't I in the middle of the chaos in Blacksburg? Was it some higher power that kept me away for a reason? What might that reason be? How might I serve the purposes of that higher power? Is this a sign that I am to leave Blacksburg for some new life, somehow directed by this force now taking root in the separation between me and the horror happening in Blacksburg? Or am I the person who is to watch from afar the early trauma at VT, to return to be some help as the witness? Is this somehow directing me to strengthen my commitment to a mission of creating a world of connection by empowering acceptance and authenticity in myself and others? What can be my purpose from this point on? Then I felt a pull. What am I doing here in the Caribbean when I'm losing my connection with the people I care about and love in Blacksburg? Might I stop my vacation now and return to be of some support? And I felt confused by the countering push back. No, who am I to think I can be of any help to those I don't even know. And what about my own sense of sanity and well-being, wouldn't that suffer if I cut off my vacation to respond to something I can not even begin to grasp? When confronted with people offering sympathies because they discovered we were from "there", I tried to empathize with their need to express their horror at what being from that place must be like, and their wish that they could be of some help. I wonder if it might have been clear had I said, "I appreciate your disgust and sadness, because I get that you want this to have never happened and wish you could somehow be of help to those who are suffering, and maybe you're afraid that it could have been you or your children or loved ones?" Coming back - one week after the tragedy, the horror, and the constant media coverage pointing fingers, honoring the dead with stories of their lives and their heroism, and showing the color in the lives of those who survived, while making decisions that stimulated feelings ranging from pain to elation, refusing to respect the needs of those experiencing loss and creating opportunities for a sense of community and connection to others who may share similar experiences - I wanted so badly to connect to my friends and colleagues who had a more direct experience with the pain. I wanted to be of support. I wanted to be caring and yet, I feared saying words or taking actions that would trigger disapproval from others. That's my characteristic fear, so it has been a challenge for me to accept myself and allow myself to make mistakes. Arriving in Charlotte at our car, I picked up my cell phone messages which I had not heard since the phone had been left in our car at the airport, expecting that we wouldn't be able to have much use of these phones in St. Martin. As expected there were messages from many friends and one relative I hadn't heard from in several years who said, in an apologetic fashion, that she just had to call to see how I was, of course she and the others calling didn't know that I was no where near the tragedy that unfolded that week. Immediately upon arriving in Blacksburg around 11:00 PM on Sunday my wife and I wanted to see the 24/7 visual happening at the 33 Hokie Stone memorials. We didn't stop. We just drove by without stopping. I was scared at this first encounter with the people who I didn't know but who had deep suffering as the result of the massacre. Finally when we arrived home I checked my email, glancing at the 650 messages to see what important notes might be embedded among the usual pomp and circumstance of everyday email. Sleep came quickly that night after our long journey. The next day I took my time returning to work, knowing that this was the first day back for many others as well. After only a short period of looking more closely at what became increasingly apparent to be many concerned email about my well-being from all corners of my life, as well as some brief sojourn into Myspace where I noted in my regularly frequented group, Knowledge and Wisdom, that I had returned, I walked to the memorial service happening at 9:45 AM, exactly one week after the shootings that killed 30 people in Norris Hall, a building which I frequented many times in the first seven years of my work here at VT, and where I had known many faculty who had their offices on the floor where the killings occurred. I felt some solidarity with the many other people I saw, mostly students, but faculty as well, walking towards Burruss Hall and the Hokie Stone Memorials where the service would begin. I was half-way across the Drillfield when the first bell tolled to start the service and trigger the release of the first white balloon for the first person who died. I stopped in my path. Thousands of others in the Drillfield, around Burruss Hall, and all over campus, became silent and motionless as 32 more balloons and an occasional firing of guns honored those who died. After the ceremony, I took the time to walk around each of the memorials and look at what had been left for the victims. Mostly just taking in the thought that these people were connected to hundreds of people, and those hundreds connected to hundreds more. Yes, I was beginning to feel the sadness myself, and beginning to experience a connection. The rest of the day had me responding to hundreds of email, trying to get done work that needed to be done, and talking to those with whom I wanted to connect. Today was more of the same until I connected this afternoon with a colleague who considered one of the dead a close personal friend. That brought the death so much closer, though giving me a chance to offer my support as best I could. Then I had another awakening to the pain, when I was told that a good acquaintance of mine had been shot in the arm. I remembered seeing him on the news on the 16th and thinking he had been hurt. There were at least 29 people other than the 32 dead who had been abused by the killer before he killed himself, and that was even more connection to pain and death. That's 62 people. If they each had 100 people who would consider themselves family, friends or close acquaintances, just those directly affected would amount to 6,200 people. If each of these people has another 100 people to which they are family or friends or close acquaintances, the number rises to 620,000 connections to the pain caused by that single gunman. That's a lot of pain, and then I think of the tens of thousands who have died in Iraq, and I realize the pain doesn't seem to have an end. Sometime this day a thought came to rest deeply in my awareness: I could have been one of those people who were killed. Just before sitting down to write here, this awareness brought up my fear of death. Yes, I could have been in those classrooms. I had been given a list of professors who are outstanding teachers, and in an effort to become a better teacher myself, I have been intent upon visiting the lectures of these professors. With fear of a real, direct connection to the horror of the past week, I checked that list, and none of them were those who had been killed on 4/16/07. However, the killer could have chosen a different time, a different room, a different day, a different building. In fact, another killer could chose a different time, room, day or building. I could have been in one of those classrooms. Or I could just die. That's what it's all about for me. I'm fretting my own mortality; the mortality of this body that I call myself. Yet I sense something coming from this, and maybe this is what a higher power had in mind for me: that my death is no different from the death of those who have passed with this massacre, and my life is not only no different from theirs, but it is no different from anyone's. In the deepest and most profound sense, our lives and deaths are the same, and I am deeply connected to everyone. As such, I died with and as horrifically as those who died on that fateful day at Virginia Tech. Yet I can never die, and those killed are still here with me today. I know them well.
Tom DeLay Former Tennessee Senator and potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson had a very interesting article in the National Review on April 20th entitled, "Signs of Intelligence?" which dealt with concealed carry laws on the Virginia Tech Campus. In the article he writes, Still, there are a lot of people who are just offended by the notion that people can carry guns around. They view everybody, or at least many of us, as potential murderers prevented only by the lack of a convenient weapon. Virginia Tech administrators overrode Virginia state law and threatened to expel or fire anybody who brings a weapon onto campus... ...So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university's "concealed carry" policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure. The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on "the authorities" for protection. To read the article in its entirety click here (and I would encourage you to do so because Senator Thompson makes a lot of sense on this issue). I did some research on my own on the background of this Virginia Tech concealed carry debate and I found this article in the Roanoke Times submitted by a Virginia Tech graduate student during August of last year. Entitled "Unarmed and Vulnerable" it is written by a Mr. Bradford Wiles and it says this, On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building." Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn. It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself... ...This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety. Given the horrific nature of recent events, Mr. Wiles' article has certainly become even more prescient and chilling. Would that Bradford had been in the engineering building that terrible day with the correct law in place - perhaps the tragedy may have ended very differently. There are many who view supporters of concealed carry laws as fringe crazies who envision life as some kind of ongoing shootem' up western movie. However, statistics don't lie. Jurisdictions which allow responsible citizens the free exercise of their Second Amendment rights have lower levels of violent crime. Ask most incarcerated criminals whether they take into account existing gun laws in choosing their targets and where they will commit a crime and the answer is a resounding yes. Call me a crazy if you wish, but I think this pro Second Amendment Argument of mine and others bears listening to. Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 09:41AM by Tom DeLay -- Original Source: http://www.tomdelay.com/home/2007/4/26/dont-conceal-this-debate.html Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5.
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