Cho '04 calls campus friend
description: Comments to Manna adviser offer first glimpse of Cho family reaction By Doug Eshleman Princetonian Staff Writer While family members of the Virginia Tech gunman have secluded themselves during the last three days to avoid media attention, his older sister, Sun-Kyung Cho '04, reached out to a close friend and spiritual adviser from her Princeton days yesterday, offering the first glimpse of how the shooter's closest relatives are reacting to Monday's killings. At a discussion forum organized yesterday by the Korean American Students Association (KASA) to help students cope with the shootings, Manna Christian Fellowship director Rev. David Kim told the group that Cho — a member of Manna while at the University — called and talked to him over the phone yesterday morning. Some of Cho's conversation with Kim focused on the guilt he said she's feeling in the aftermath of her brother's actions. Kim said that Cho apologized for any negative repercussions Koreans on campus may have experienced after Monday's shooting. The 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui — who shot himself after taking the lives of 32 people Monday on the Virginia Tech campus — immigrated to the United States in 1992 from South Korea, along with Sun-Kyung and their parents. "When she called, one of the first things she did was she apologized because she felt so bad for the Koreans on campus," Kim said. Several Korean students and alumni have expressed anxiety regarding a possible nationwide backlash against their community following the Virginia shootings. Kim added that in the next few days, Cho would release a public statement on behalf of her family, since her parents do not speak English. Cho has taken a leave of absence from her job with a State Department contractor, ABC News reported yesterday, and her parents left their Centreville, Va. house Monday before media members swarmed the location. Cho could not be reached yesterday. She declined to comment when contacted on her cellphone Tuesday. In an in…
creator: Doug Eshleman
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

Would Public Safety be able to prevent a shooting?
description: By Owen Fletcher Princetonian Staff Writer About a week before last week's shootings at Virginia Tech, the University made the prescient purchase of a mass alert system to notify students of campus security crises. The University's system, which messages students' cell phones or other portable devices, has not yet been fully implemented, but it signals a heightened concern about campus security that existed even before the shootings. But the shootings have ignited a national debate on methods to prevent and effectively respond to crises and have led to questions about campus security procedures. Some Virginia Tech students have criticized campus safety officials for their slow response to gunman Cho Seung-Hui's murder of two students. Campus police notified students by email about two hours after the incident, but by then, Cho had begun his second round of shooting, taking 30 more lives and his own. Crises like last week's shooting are difficult to predict, Public Safety Deputy Director Charles Davall said. "You can never totally be prepared for something like this," he said. "It could happen anywhere." At a Senate hearing yesterday on campus security, Public Safety Director Steven Healy recommended that more universities adopt "mass notification systems that are capable of reaching community members." Getting students to provide their portable contact information for this system, however, could be difficult, Healy testified. "Even if you have a system that can reach a person's cell phone" or other portable device, he said, "they still have to be willing to give you those numbers." Healy, who is also president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, said there is room for nationwide improvement on campus security. "[M]ost colleges and universities have plans" to respond to crises, he said, but "we're a long way from being able to say ... that all institutions know how those plans will play." Since last week's shootings, Public Safe…
creator: Owen Fletcher
publisher: Daily Princetonian
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

The narrow reach of 'community'
description: By Uwe E. Reinhardt Princetonian Columnist Students gathered in Richardson Auditorium last night for a service in memory of the victims of Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech," reported The Daily Princetonian on April 18. A day earlier, President Tilghman stated that "my reaction was horror at the loss of so many innocent young lives," a sentiment echoed by President Bush when he remarked that "those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They leave behind grieving families and grieving classmates and a grieving nation." Congress openly prayed for the victims and their loves ones. Flags flew at half-mast across the nation. It was good. Solidarity with stricken fellow human beings forges a group of people sharing a geography into a "community" or "nation." As Associate Dean of Religious Life Deborah Blanks put it so eloquently during the memorial: "We dare to affirm that there is strength in community." It takes nothing away from the grief we share with Virginia Tech's community to let the mind wander from that tragedy to another one, the daily toll of fellow human beings grotesquely destroyed or maimed in Iraq, among them many American men and women just as young and innocent as those killed at Virginia Tech. As Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's "Countdown," standing out from the herd politically correct journalists, asked boldly on April 17: "In just the last 10 days, 32 American troops, many the same age as the Virginia Tech students, have died. While one may take issue with the comparison, one cannot ignore the similarities ... It seems fair to ask the question, if the violent deaths in Virginia send the nation into shock and expressions of concern and anxiety, why is not the continuous flow of blood in Iraq creating a similar reaction? Why isn't our flag permanently at half staff?" Olbermann has a point. In just the two days following the shooting at Virginia Tech, close to 400 Iraqis were brutally blown to shreds and hundreds more seriously wounded, …
creator: Uwe E. Reinhardt
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

A call for community
description: By Anonymous The shooting at Virginia Tech serves as a tragic reminder of the importance of a strong campus community, one in which people know and look out for each other. In the wake of this event, it is important that we make sure that all students feel comfortable in our campus community. This opportunity should be seized to reflect on how to foster a greater sense of community, especially in upperclass dorms. There seems to be a presumption that, once out of their residential colleges, upperclassmen are sufficiently acclimatized to college life. While colleges provide students with RCAs who organize study breaks and generally foster a sense of commnity within dorms, upperclassmen are left to their own devices. Though eating clubs provide some measure of support for upperclassmen, nothing exists to promote socialization in upperclass dorms or among the many students who do not choose to join clubs or remain in the residential colleges. Independent work, which puts increased pressure on upperclassmen and often requires them to spend significant time alone, means that community feeling outside of eating clubs often suffers. Some students go through an entire year without meeting all their neighbors. Though social dynamics among students is, in the end, the result of our own behavior, there is room for the administration to provide a helping hand. While the University provides mental health services for those in need, having intermediaries step, similar to RCAs, would greatly stimulate social interactions in upperclass dorms and encourage students with psychological issues not to isolate themselves. This could easily be achieved by expanding the mission — and budget — of dormitory assistants, whose current responsibilities are focused on questions of maintenance and living conditions. These measures are not intended to prevent tragic instances such as those at Virginia Tech. They would, however, encourage interaction in upperclass dorms and foster a greater sen…
creator: Anonoymous
publisher: Daily Princetonian
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

Prof. Newman: Self-image drove Va. Tech shooter
description: By Sam Fox Krauss Princetonian Staff Writer Students who kill their classmates are motivated by a desire to change their reputation, Wilson School professor Katherine Newman and politics professor Keith Whittington told about 50 students and community members last night at a talk on the Virginia Tech shootings. Newman discussed the social experience of school shooters and the unpredictability of such tragedies, while Whittington related the killings at Virginia Tech to gun control regulation and discussed the potential for changes to concealed weapons permits. The sociology of school shootings Major American school shootings have mostly occurred in obscure rural neighborhoods, Newman said. She likened the school massacres in small towns to the "endemic" violence in big cities. Newman went on to discuss Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui in the context of three case studies she has done of school shootings since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. "What all three of these boys were trying to do was changing their image in the eyes of their peers," Newman said. In rural towns, the school is an easy place to make a violent statement, Newman said. She contrasted this with the situation in cities, where young men are more likely to commit violent crimes on the street. Newman found that school gunmen in recent years have professed a desire to surpass the death toll of the Columbine shootings. The same mentality, she said, seems to be true for Cho. Newman discussed several cases of school shootings, all committed by students much younger than Cho. She said that if the children been older, their mental diseases would have been more readily apparent. "There isn't a single rampage incident that wasn't preceded by a string of signals," Newman said. But the signals that future shooters send out are often ambiguous and under the radar of adults, which is why the signs are rarely reported, she said. Classmates of the shooters often do not convey their …
creator: Sam Fox Krauss
publisher: Daily Princetonian
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

Tragedy hits close to home
description: Campus comes together to mourn victims of shooting By Cornelia Hall Princetonian Staff Writer Photo by Gabriela Aoun Students gathered in Richardson Auditorium last night for a service in memory of the victims of Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech. With solemn faces, some stained with tears, they listened to musical performances, prayers and speeches. Associate Dean of Religion Life Deborah Blanks took the podium first, addressing the assembled students with deliberate, heartfelt remarks. She emphasized the renewed interconnectedness of the student body, calling the Princeton community "united in heart, spirit and solidarity." "We dare to affirm that there is strength in community," she said. In addition to the sense of unity on Princeton's campus, Blanks spoke of its tie to all academic institutions. "When tragedy touches one life, its universal reach reminds us of the fragility and the vulnerability of all life," she noted. She closed her remarks with a prayer. USG president Rob Biederman '08 also stressed the transcendence of the college experience, bringing the events at Virginia Tech closer to the Princeton campus. He spoke solemnly as the audience kept their gazes fixed on the podium. "Every college campus should be a place apart; I imagine Princeton and Virginia Tech are no different in this regard," he told the gathering. "Here at Princeton, some casually refer to this as the Orange Bubble. At Virginia Tech yesterday, the bubble was ruptured, and we felt the shocks of that rupture here." Monday's gunshots reverberated across the country, with President Bush seeking to console an appalled America and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offering a moment of silence on the House floor. "Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate," Bush said at a memorial held at the Virginia Tech campus yesterday. "They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they're gone, and they leave behind grieving families and grieving classmate…
creator: Cornelia Hall
date: 2007-06-22
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
language: eng

After VaTech, violent creative writing raises concerns on campuses
description: By: Sean Moroney Posted: 5/17/07 Other than being two of the most-read playwrights in history, Sophocles and Shakespeare share another common thread-a knack for writing gruesome but also unforgettable scenes. Likewise, Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech shooter who was a senior majoring in English, graphically described murder and violence in two plays he wrote for a class in the fall of his senior year. One difference between the well-known playwrights and Cho, however, was that their words stayed on the stage and Cho's played out in real life. Since the Virginia Tech massacre April 16, critics have questioned whether university administrators and professors could have taken further steps to prevent the shooting. Specifically, they have focused on Cho's two plays-"Mr. Brownstone" and "Richard McBeef," in which a 13-year-old threatens to kill his stepfather. "There is that understood latitude in creative writing," Duke English Professor Deborah Pope wrote in an e-mail. "There has to be that room to reach deeply. Not least of all because some of the greatest writers we know have written about quite disturbing events and characters. Many of the Greek plays and Shakespeare, as just two examples, are full of gore." In the English department at Duke, students can take a number of courses that either integrate creative writing into the curriculum or focus solely on it. Pope, who teaches creative writing, said she is not aware of an official policy on regulating a student's creative writing. "I don't know how there could be," Pope said. "It must rest with a teacher's individual judgment." Creative writing in college is a delicate issue because professors oftentimes encourage students to express themselves freely in their writing but at the same time must recognize when highly imaginative writing signals problems in the personal lives of the student. "I read both of [Cho's] short plays. I was pretty horrified and disgusted because I hate violence," said senior and English maj…
creator: Sean Moroney
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Shooting points to need for less restrictive gun laws
description: By: Danny Mistarz Posted: 4/24/07 After the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech April 16, the anti-Second Amendment crowd has once again reared its ugly head. The usual claims of guns causing violence and the necessity to ban personal ownership have come out. But what if one person, a student, a professor, the RA in the dorm, had been carrying a gun? Would dozens of lives have been spared? The state of Virginia's legislature had a bill proposed last year, HB 1572, proposing that handguns be permitted on college campuses for those persons with proper permits and certification. The bill was shot down in subcommittee, never making it to the house floor. At the time, it was celebrated by a VT spokesman as a stride toward continued public safety. Was the wrong decision was made? Guns are used 2.5 million times in self-defense annually, saving approximately 2,575 lives for each life lost annually according to the Second Amendment Foundation; could HB 1572 gave saved thirty-one lives on the morning of April 16, or even just one? Let's assume that guns were permitted on campus at Virginia Tech, and that one student or one professor in the engineering building was carrying that day. This coward would never have been able to level a gun on hundreds of his classmates had he known there was the possibility of having to defend himself. What if a student on the hall of the dormitory had a gun, just in the room for protection? Certainly the first two gunshots, would have been heard and within a minute of the start of a rampage, 31 lives could have been saved. All it would take is one person, carrying one gun. No gun law could stop people who want to get guns from getting them any better than our current drug laws work. Perhaps the gun laws that need arguing against are the gun laws that limit us, not the laws that protect us. Danny Mistarz Pratt '09 -- Original Source: Duke Chronicle - April 24, 2007
creator: Danny Mistarz
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Bomb threat deemed no hazard
description: By: Zak Kazzaz Posted: 4/23/07 Early Friday morning, Duke University Police Department received an anonymous bomb threat for Bell Tower Dormitory and another building, which does not exist. The threat-received through a telecommunications device for the deaf-was not found credible by the police, but they investigated the dorm to ensure there was no hazard, said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. Bell Tower residents were not evacuated and received an e-mail about the threat several hours later. The incident added Duke to a list of schools and universities across the country that have received security threats since the Virginia Tech shootings a week ago. Although some universities have chosen to evacuate buildings and cancel classes in response to the threats, others have opted to continue normal activities. "Threats are made over the course of the year, and [the police] exercise a judgment," Moneta said. "They have expertise in determining that something's credible or not." He added that DUPD is currently investigating who called in the threat. Some Bell Tower residents said they were wary of how the situation was handled. Freshman Jordan Rice said he saw a police officer searching the dormitory Friday. "We asked him if he needed any help, and he said no," Rice said. "He looked to be in no hurry." Rice added that he was unsure whether or not evacuation would have been necessary. "They deemed it was not credible," he said. "I trust that, but then again, you really don't want to make the same mistake the Virginia Tech administrators made in not closing down classes or, in this case, evacuating a dorm." Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residential life, wrote in the e-mail sent to the residents that there was no reason for students to feel unsafe. "We do not believe Bell Tower residents have any cause for concern at this time, but we wanted to make you aware of it and encourage extra vigilance on your part," he said. In addition to Gonzalez's e-mail, Mo…
creator: Zak Kazzaz
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Council hears Duke safety plans
description: By: Eugene Wang Posted: 4/20/07 Executive Vice President Tallman Trask spoke about Duke's emergency response system and Jo Rae Wright, dean of the Graduate School, reported on the future of the school at the Academic Council's meeting Thursday. Paul Haagen, chair of the council and professor of law, said he asked Trask to speak about Duke's preparation for "extraordinary safety-related events," in light of the massacre at Virginia Tech Monday. Duke has the plans, equipment and notification systems in place to respond to emergencies, Trask said. He added, however, that a response system alone may not have been able to prevent the tragedy. "In the current circumstances, I can assure you we have taken all prudent preparatory steps to deal with the circumstances," Trask said. He added it is impossible for the University to notify everyone instantly in the case of an emergency. "We don't know of any communication systems that can get a message to 27,000 people in three minutes," Trask said. He also noted that although the electronic door locks can be instantly disabled, there is no way of instantaneously restricting entry to Duke's campus. "We don't even control access to our campus... there are almost 20 different roads anyone could ride down to get into Duke," Trask said. Some members asked why no mass message was sent to the students and their parents after the massacre at Virginia Tech. "We deliberately decided not to send a message to all parents... because none of us really know what to say, none of us know the facts," Trask said. Council members also discussed if Counseling and Psychological Services has the capacity and strategies to deal with students' mental health issues. "We need to be clearer in instructions about what faculty can and cannot do," Trask said. The council also listened to a presentation by Wright on the "strategic plan" for the Graduate School and the state of the school's finances. She said her goals for the future are like a "three-legged st…
creator: Eugene Wang
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Put grief on the front page
description: By: Anthony Galanos Posted: 4/20/07 The media coverage of the tragedy at Virginia Tech is rewarding insanity and complicating grief. But there are 32 families, and an entire university who are grieving. Not sad, not upset, not disgruntled... but GRIEVING. And how we treat them in this critical period will determine how they cope now and what the legacy of this past week will be for them. Almost as sad as the loss of life is that this American culture acts like it knows not what grieving is. You want to see grieving, find any child 10 years of age or younger and watch them after their dog or cat dies. It is not a profound concept; it does not require a degree in philosophy or theological training. It is a natural process, common to all humanity. Why we ignore it or complicate it, I do not know, but to accent anything at this raw moment but the grief of the people involved is to confuse them-no, is to use them and to make their journey more complicated and more traumatic than it already is. If my 18-year-old daughter were shot and killed in her dorm, and the only way it was described by her college president was as a "domestic situation" because they thought she had dated the shooter, I would be outraged. I would wonder why this man or woman was on TV and not acknowledging my loss. I would wonder why a famous news anchor is blaming him for police matters (my assumption is that most college presidents know little, if anything, about police work) when I just lost my daughter. And, if the task of losing my child were not difficult enough, then I would have to cope with the media, stating without any evidence whatsoever, that perhaps my daughter's life "could have been spared". Now, and forever, that "what if" question would dominate me. It was not random or the product of psychosis. It was someone's fault, or so say the pundits. What would have been a normal grieving process, is now complicated. I was not afraid to grieve, but my grieving may have no end point. As a clin…
creator: Anthony Galanos
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Asians fear alienation, scrutiny
description: By: Anna Lieth Posted: 4/20/07 Days after the Virginia Tech shooter was identified as a Korean-American male by national media outlets, members of Duke's Asian Students Association gathered Thursday night to discuss the possible backlashes the Asian-American community may endure as a result of the gunman's actions. During the discussion, which was sponsored by Counseling and Psychological Services and ASA, students addressed concerns about how aspects of Asian-American culture may intensify frustrations and pressures with which many students struggle on a daily basis. Senior Kevin Fang, outgoing president of ASA, said the event was intended to give students on campus "an opportunity to process all that is going on." "A lot of Korean students at Virginia Tech have gone home," he said. "Although they know that the shooting had nothing to do with race, they feel that there might be some repercussions." The six students present also discussed the national media's coverage of the incident, questioning their decision to identify the race of Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter, and debating the relevance of this information in attempting to understand the motive for his actions. They discussed whether or not the shooter's actions could be explained through his cultural and social identity, and talked about how situations like the one Cho faced can be prevented. Some students shared experiences about other Asian-American students they knew who experienced pressures and feelings of cultural disconnect which led them to lives of isolation and depression. Gary Glass, senior coordinator for outreach and developmental programming for CAPS, said his objective in helping to organize the discussion was to "provide an arena for things to get voiced that aren't often voiced-at least not in any formal capacity." He added that he saw a variety of reactions expressed during the discussion. "If there are voices that if they were more heard would further enrich the campus, then let's create a spac…
creator: Anna Lieth
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Documentary news?
description: By: Sarah Ball By now, there isn't a soul in the United States who hasn't seen the greasy, glinting forehead of Cho Seung-Hui, the gunman responsible for what broadcast news and the blogosphere are terming "the Virginia Tech Massacre." His grease and his glint are everywhere, above every fold, at the top of every segment of every news program on every channel. Every anchor and every rural Virginia stringer for every paper have started every story this week with that grease, and that man. Then, invariably, they turn it over to us-to the cell phone cameramen, the bloggers, the Facebook status changers. The era of the citizen journalist, age 19, has arrived. This week, in this new era, I watched major news programs become veritable footage Crazy Quilts, with those same borrowed phone shots and MySpace stills casually inter-cut with traditional anchor shots. In establishing a timeline on that fateful Monday, journalists did not simply seek help from the intrepid reporters at Tech's paper, The Collegiate Times. They posted interview requests to message boards, requested footage to be e-mailed or uploaded to websites, scoured community sites like Facebook and MySpace for leads. Fox News, which has outdone itself with glossy infotainment segments and dirge-like piano soundtracks, ran an entirely viewer-constructed package called "You Report" on the day of the shooting. You Report was comprised of cell videos of police cars and evacuating students, as well as transcribed posts from sites like Fark.com and MySpace. When not plumbing the citizen journalist pool for pre-made reporting, Fox itself reported on other ways students were using Internet tech-kids notifying their families of their safety via Facebook, for example, when cell phone lines were clogged. In the absence of order, the cyber chaos both reported the news and was the news. All this is perhaps unremarkable, given the prevalence of digital communication in collegiate life, and the ways in which crisis tends to u…
creator: Sarah Ball
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Security, Duke response raise some concerns
description: By: Zak Kazzaz Posted: 4/18/07 Two days after the Monday massacre at Virginia Tech, students nationwide remained on edge Tuesday as more details of the tragedy emerged and additional security threats occurred on several other college campuses. A bomb threat at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Monday, just hours after the Virginia Tech shootings, caused university officials to evacuate two buildings there. Another threat received Tuesday at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, prompted the university to evacuate buildings and dormitories and cancel the entire day's classes. Although many Duke students said they are not worried about a similar catastrophe in Durham, several said that there are safety concerns for which the University cannot account. "What terrifies me, and what I'm sure terrifies most people, is that it was random," freshman Kate Van Buskirk said. "He just went in and started killing people." Some parents of Duke students also said they have been gripped by fear and anxiety regarding the issue. "I don't know what can happen or what can be done," said Ruth Azimi, parent of a Duke freshman and a Virginia resident. "On campus, everybody can get in, nobody asks for IDs, and now that's kind of scary." John Burness, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, said Duke is currently evaluating all of its security and response practices. He added that the University is considering a system that can send out a mass text message to all students in case of an emergency. "Let's remind people what's going on, and dust [the emergency systems] off, and make sure they still work," Burness said. Junior Paul Slattery, the incoming president of Duke Student Government, said that text messages, however, might not fully address the issue. "What if a student doesn't have service or doesn't have their cell phone?" Slattery said. The shooter's student status at Virginia Tech makes such an incident very hard to predict since universities pl…
creator: Sara Hood
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Distraught, Duke asks questions
description: 2 days later, campus still rattled by tragedy By: Kristen Davis Posted: 4/18/07 More than a hundred students, faculty and administrators bowed their heads in silence at 2 p.m. Tuesday, as the Duke Chapel bell tolled 33 times-once for each casualty of the Virginia Tech shootings. The interfaith vigil-which was organized by Craig Kocher, assistant dean of the Chapel and director of religious life-was held at the same time as a memorial service in Blacksburg, Va., to display solidarity between Virginia Tech and Duke. In his reflection, Dean of the Chapel Samuel Wells spoke about the "fragile beauty" of human life and prayed for all those affected by the tragedy. A Buddhist chant of compassion was offered, and Carlisle Harvard, director of the International House, urged students to be sympathetic to Korean students' possible anxiety over the ethnicity of the shooter, who was identified Tuesday. Many Duke students-including some of the more than 500 undergraduates and graduates who call Virginia home-said that in the past two days they have felt the effects of the tragedy in a variety of ways. "Being at Duke, we usually don't have time to deal with personal issues, so it was good to have time to release and vent and have a moment of silence," said Tiffany Scott, a senior from Virginia who added that she was relieved to learn that none of her friends at Virginia Tech had been hurt. Alan Combs, a third-year Divinity School student who is also from Virginia, said his brother-in-law, a freshman at Virginia Tech, used his cell phone to take one of the pictures that appeared on CNN.com. Combs' brother-in-law was not injured in the shootings, but at least one of his friends was killed. Combs, along with several other students, said the events encouraged deeper self-reflection. "[The massacre] reminds everyone of the contingency of our lives, which is not necessarily something to be fearful of, but more of a reminder that I don't control my own life," Combs said. Many students a…
creator: Kristen Davis
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Virginia Tech, our thoughts are with you
description: Editorial Posted: 4/17/07 Horrified silence saturated campuses across the country yesterday, as the death toll at Virginia Tech climbed to at least 32 fellow students. The deadliest mass shooting in United States history can be described only as a true tragedy. To begin, as members of the Duke community we express our sincerest condolences to families and friends of the deceased and wounded and to the entire Virginia Tech campus. Our hearts go out to all of those in the Virginia Tech community and all of the students here at Duke who have been touched by this shocking disaster in one way or another. A tragedy like this makes us pause to reflect upon our own mortality. Days like yesterday-filled with images of bloodied young bodies, terrified faces and drawn guns-bring violence and death close to home. As young men and women now in college, we can only hope (although likely and sadly in vain) to never see a day like this past Monday again. And during such times, there is a very human urge to point fingers-to place blame on administrators for not responding effectively or efficiently. But scenarios like those that played out yesterday are extremely hard to prepare for. Hindsight is 20/20, and we cannot judge the Virginia Tech administrators with the knowledge we now have. We trust they had students' best interests in mind and do so still as they seek to recover from the shock and horror of a day nobody can ever really anticipate. Monday's tragedy does, however, provide an opportunity for Duke's administrators to examine their own emergency response procedures. We depend on Duke administrators to keep us informed when urgent situations arise. Although mass e-mail lists serve great informative purposes, a faster mass communication system must be devised to alert students in times of emergency. Because many students come from differing parts of the country, Duke must also devise a plan to inform families quickly or to make themselves available for inquiries in situations…
creator: Editorial Staff
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

32 killed in Virginia Tech massacre
description: 200 miles away, Duke students hold vigil, admins offer support By: Anna Lieth Posted: 4/17/07 After violent shootings shook students and administrators on Virginia Tech's campus Monday, members of the Duke community gathered last night to mourn and come to terms with the tragic events of the day. Just 200 miles southeast of Virginia Tech's home in Blacksburg, Va., Duke students said the news sent a shock wave through the campus. For some, the shock was followed by fear for friends and loved ones in Virginia, but for others fear was displaced by disbelief and worry that a similar event could take place at the campus they call home. And for one group of students, the natural response to the news was to pray. About 30 students gathered on the steps of the Duke Chapel for an emotional vigil and prayer session for the victims of the shooting, their respective families and the gunman Monday night. "[The vigil is] not just to console people, but also to know that there is a community that is here to support people and that as a community we need to act together," said sophomore Ashley Dunfee, who attended the event. "We have a root that we act from and that ultimately should be the source of what we do and where we're going." President Richard Brodhead, in a statement released to The Chronicle, recognized the magnitude of the events at Virginia Tech and emphasized efforts the University is making to reach out to members of both the Virginia Tech and Duke communities who were affected by the tragedy. "This is the deadliest campus shooting in United States history and a profoundly sad day for everyone directly affected-and the nation as a whole," Brodhead said. "On behalf of the entire Duke community, I express my condolences to those who are grieving at Virginia Tech. They are enduring a time of unspeakable loss this evening." John Burness, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, said Brodhead also reached out following news of the event to Charle…
creator: Anna Lieth
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Duke's response to VaTech tragedy lacking
description: Editorial Posted: 4/19/07 When news of the Virginia Tech massacre broke Monday, to say that students across the country were on edge is an understatement. The horror and randomness of the event forced students to take a step back and examine their own campuses and ask, "Are we safe?" And members of the Duke community began to question what the safety and notification protocol would be if something of this magnitude occurred here. Many wondered what, if any, steps Duke was taking to tighten security Monday. Those with friends and family at Virginia Tech asked what resources were available for them here on campus. But answers to these queries were virtually impossible to discern. President Richard Brodhead released a statement to The Chronicle late Monday night, which was also published on the Duke News website. In the statement, Brodhead expressed his condolences to the Virginia Tech community and announced an interfaith vigil that would be held Tuesday at the Duke Chapel. But nowhere in the statement was there mention of Duke's own security status. Moreover, while Brodhead said Student Affairs was trying to contact "every student with Virginia Tech connections," there is no way they could identify every student with a "connection." As such, those students with friends or acquaintances at Virginia Tech who the administration did not know about-as well as those simply overwhelmed by the tragedy-were told only that Religious Life staff and the Chapel were available for support. There was no mention of other, non-religious resources, such as augmented, emergency Counseling and Psychological Services, that could benefit all concerned students regardless of religious orientation. Most troubling, however, was the fact that Brodhead's statement was not sent to the Duke community. It was published in The Chronicle, but no one could read it until Tuesday morning, nearly 24 hours after the massacre occurred. And while technically online, the statement was buried on the Duke Ne…
creator: Editorial Staff
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

Released from lockdown
description: By: Shamus Williams (April 16) Well, I'm back safe and sound in my off-campus apartment. It has been a very scary and hectic past couple of hours to say the least. We were released at noon, but it was not an assisted evacuation as we were hearing that it would be. I was a little apprehensive that we were not assisted in leaving the campus, and I was constantly looking over my shoulder. I have never seen so many police officers in my life. There were police cars, ambulances, SWAT vehicles and other emergency vehicles lining every street possible that I could see. There were students running to their cars and it seemed every person was on their cell phone trying to call friends and family. It is definitely a scary time on campus. I am usually not one to worry about these things, but this has surpassed anything that the mind can even fathom. This is probably the most scared I have ever been in my life. The police made things seem somewhat safe, but I'm not sure all the police in the world could have made things seem perfectly safe. -- Original Source: Big Lick U - April 16, 2007
creator: Shamus Williams
date: 2007-06-26
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Chris Winston <Chris.Winston@biglicku.com>
language: eng

In lockdown in Shanks Hall
description: By: Shamus Williams (April 16 -- 11:55 a.m.) I am on campus as we speak and am under lockdown in Shanks Hall, which is located on the opposite side of campus from the shootings. But it is still too close for comfort. I was in class, working on a paper, when I got an e-mail saying that a shooting had occurred on campus. It was about 20 to 25 minutes later when we received word that the gunman was loose and we were on lockdown. It is a pretty scary thing, because of the recent bomb threats and the whole William Morva thing that happened earlier in the year. The students in my class have been pretty calm. Everybody is trying to reach friends and family and let them know that we are OK and that nothing has happened on this side of campus. We have all been sending instant messages trying to find information, and there are plenty of rumors swirling. We are all trying to figure out what is real and what is not. There are plenty of different emotions flying around the room. Some people are trying to make jokes to lighten the mood. Others are trying to scour the Web for information (I would fall into that category). Somehow, others are still trying to get their paper done. I'm definitely not trying to do anything associated with schoolwork with this thing going down. I really think that it will be a long time before we are let off campus, and the longer they keep us in here, the more worried we are all becoming. -- Original Source: Big Lick U - April 16, 2007
creator: Shamus Williams
date: 2007-06-26
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Chris Winston <Chris.Winston@biglicku.com>
language: eng