Blacksburg, diocese seek shalom after April 16 shootings
ERD provides a $20,000 grant for counseling By Christie M. Wills They're calling it a "Hokie Cry." It's described as a wave of emotion that washes over people in the Virginia Tech community, sometimes out of the blue, sometimes when they thought they were doing just fine. Christ Church, Blacksburg, parishioner Bob Miller remembers one Hokie Cry on a Sunday morning. "It was the day when one of the lectionary readings ended with 'and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' The layreader had to collect herself to get through it and lots of us cried along with her," said Miller. Although Blacksburg was clearly the epicenter, people across the diocese felt the pain of the events of April 16. Most churches in the New River convocation have parishioners who are employed at Virginia Tech. Even parishes too far away to have Tech employees often have parents or grandparents of current Tech students. So on Saturday, April 21, Bishop Neff Powell called a diocesan meeting to provide guidance on how the Church might respond, especially on the first Sunday after the shooting. On several days' notice, over 40 clergy and lay leaders across the diocese attended a daylong gathering at St. Thomas, Christiansburg, to pray and gain strength for the journey. New York psychologist Dr. Karen Binder-Brynes, a trauma counselor for the Episcopal Church who has worked with Katrina survivors and firefighters at the World Trade Center, led the program. "You have my deepest respect for all you've been through," said Dr. Karen, who spoke to the group via speakerphone. She explained that the closer people are to the site of a traumatic event, the more affected they are. She said that it was normal to swing between feeling numb and feeling overwhelmed, as well as feeling sadness, loss, hopelessness and anger. "Senseless tragedies like this render us feeling out of control which is often a shameful feeling. That's one reason why we may have found ourselves glued to the TV, looking for answers," she said. "A Mary Tragedy" By late afternoon on April 16, many diocesan parishes had made plans for evening vigils and prayer services [including St. John's and St. Elizabeth's, Roanoke, and St. Stephen's, Forest]. Throughout the week, more parishes held services of remembrance and many noted a moderate number of visitors in their midst. At the same time, the staff at Christ Church, Blacksburg, had determined that while no Episcopal parishioners were among the killed or injured, the web of connectedness within the parish and the Tech community was intimate. Some parishioners eventually attended three or four or more funerals for friends, colleagues and students. All week, the parish phone rang frequently. According to secretary Judie Marsh, the majority of calls were either reporters or folks from outside the parish who called to offer condolences or assistance. On Tuesday, April 17, interim rector Elizabeth Morgan started her day by doing a live interview at 7 a.m. with a cable news anchor outside the parish office. She said one of the more bizarre phone calls she fielded that week was from a filmmaker in New York who wanted to arrive the next day and follow her around with a cameraman to produce a documentary. Morgan turned him down. Canterbury chaplain Scott Russell was en route home from a trip to Germany and did not learn what had happened until he passed through customs late on Monday. He returned to Blacksburg on Tuesday evening in time to join the Canterbury Club at the candlelight prayer vigil on campus. In his absence, the diocesan office dispatched two trauma-trained clergy, the Revs. Stephen Stanley, Christ Church, Roanoke, and Fran McCoy of St. Mark's, St. Paul/All Saints, Norton, in response to a request for additional chaplains by the campus student activities office. Stanley, McCoy, Hollins Chaplain Jan Fuller and Russell all reported spending a portion of their time on campus shielding grieving people from media cameras and from "the howling evangelists with the bullhorn calls for campus repentance echoing across the drill field," according to a sermon that Stanley later wrote. As the days passed, it became clear that while the tragedy was intense in Southwestern Virginia, even life-changing for some, there was very little that people could do in response, except pray. In his column for "Connections," Bishop Neff Powell assured all that "prayer will come into the locked rooms of fear in our hearts and begin to restore a measure of shalom." As Elizabeth Foster, Director of Christian Education at Christ Church, wrote in an email on April 19, "The most helpful thing at this point is to pray. That is kind of frustrating for those of us who are Marthas, but there is little we can do. We are depending on the Marys to pray for our strength and wisdom." World Response As the news spread, Episcopalians across the country and Anglicans around the world reached out to share their grief and support. Bishop Powell said one of the first emails he received was from Bishop David James in Bradford, England. Two particularly humbling emails of condolence were received on behalf of the diocese: one from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seoul expressing the shock and sorrow of Korean Catholics and one from the Rev. Bol Deng, a protégé of the late Rev. Marc Nikkel, in war-torn Sudan. Several dioceses, including Delaware, Colorado, Western Washington and Utah, made response to the tragedy on the front page or within their diocesan newspapers. The Diocese of Delaware opened their annual convention with prayerful silence for the murder victims and for all young people. Their convention keynote speaker, George Packard, Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies, had also met with Bishop Powell in New York (where Powell had been on sabbatical) to plan the April 20 gathering for leaders in this diocese. Utah Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish wrote a poem which she read at an interfaith service of remembrance at the University of Utah. Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California wrote about the event in his online blog. Andrus is a Virginia Tech alumnus and credits the Christ Church Canterbury Club as his gateway to the Episcopal Church. Visits to the diocesan website quadrupled over normal daily traffic, peaking at about 2,000 hits per day in the first week. Within 36 hours, the diocese created an online presence to serve as a streamlined clearinghouse for up-to-date information. It prominently featured two buttons: one to request help and the other to offer help to others. Thanks to a small Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) grant, the site will be a permanent feature of the diocesan website. In times between emergencies, it will be a place to find resources on disaster preparedness. Visit dioswva.org/respond Moving Forward In a late May interview, campus chaplain Scott Russell said that looking back, much of the first week was a blur. For the most part, he spent the days on campus, running on adrenaline. Then, over the next few weeks, he and the rest of the Christ Church staff called on those they had not yet seen at church. "Some people process grief differently. Some get very quiet or retreat, which is okay, but we're checking on them," said Russell. In the last remaining days of classes, the core group of the Canterbury Club spent a lot of time together. "Many folks donated food so we had plenty to eat and often ate together. When we went out for a meal, we saw the look of recognition in other people's eyes; that they were touched in the same way," said Russell. Russell thanked those in the parish, in the diocese and around the world who prayed for the students and wrote letters to them. Youth from across the country including San Francisco and Arizona sent prayers written on colorful fabric in the style of Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. The campus ministry at Christ Church also received many donations, such as from the youth of Grace Memorial, Lynchburg who sent $539 from a sub sandwich fundraiser. In all, about $5000 in donations was added to the newly formed Christ Church campus ministry endowment. On the last Sunday before graduation, Katie Stanhagen, the president of the parish's Canterbury Club thanked the congregation for their support of the students. Russell said she told parishioners that they had modeled for her what it meant to be in a loving Christian community. The vestry of Christ Church has appointed a committee to implement an approximately $20,000 ERD grant that was given to support counseling efforts for the wider public. Since the area was well-supplied with grief counselors in the first weeks of the tragedy, the parish committee has focused on using the grant to reach out to the community in the summer and into the school year. Among the options being considered: an ongoing, ecumenical series of community events such as films and lectures to provide a place to work through grief together; construction of a community labyrinth; specialized "care-for-the-caregiver" support, particularly for Tech faculty and staff. Russell expects to have a busy summer as he is leading the parish since interim rector Elizabeth Morgan was called to a parish in South Carolina. He'll also begin to contact incoming Episcopal students and will rotate with other campus ministers in staffing an information table during the orientation season. And he is looking forward to preaching at the increased number of weddings to be held at Christ Church this summer. "Our parish is a very organic place; we're able to take what comes. But I'm looking forward to the sense of joy that these weddings will bring," said Russell. // To read updates of the events as they were posted and first-hand journal entries about the tragedy, as well as find information on disaster preparedness, visit dioswva.org/respond -- Archived with permission of author. Original Source: The Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia http://www.dioswva.org/news/2007/jun/blacksburg-diocese-seek-shalom-after-april-16-shootings
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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Tech students are happy with proposed design By: Bryan Schamus (June 7) Virginia Tech released its plans today for an intermediate memorial for the victims of the April 16 shootings, one day after announcing that Norris Hall, the site of 31 of the 33 shootings, would reopen on June 18. The memorial site will be located on the Drillfield, in front of Burruss Hall, where a makeshift memorial sprung up after the shootings. "The university community, and particularly the students, has become attached to this location. It seems only appropriate that we continue this tradition with something more substantive while we begin the process of looking elsewhere on campus for a permanent and fitting memorial to honor the memory and lives of our fallen students and faculty," Tech President Charles Steger said in a press release. Thirty-two small, upright Hokie stones - each etched with the name of one of the victims - will be installed in crushed gravel and surrounded by a semi-circular walking path. Construction is expected to be completed by the time students return for fall semester. Students walking around campus today seemed content with the decision when they saw an artists' rendering of what the memorial would look like. "Wow, that looks nice," and "Very cool" were their reactions when I showed them a copy of the design pictured above. "I personally really like the design," said Sumeet Bagai, a coordinator of Hokies United, the group that helped erect the first temporary memorial on the Drillfield. "I think it affirms the university's commitment to what students want and is more of a permanent version of what Hokies United did." The intermediate memorial and its location were chosen by a committee of about half a dozen Tech community members, including four students. Vice President of Alumni Relations Tom Tillar chaired that committee. Part of the temporary memorial currently on the Drillfield is a 33rd stone with Seung-Hui Cho's name next to it. That stone was not placed by the university or any university-affiliated group but by the community, Bagai said. The university's design for the intermediate memorial includes no plans for a 33rd stone. All 33 stones from the original memorial will be offered to the families of those who died, according to university relations and Bagai. The intermediate memorial will remain until a permanent one is constructed elsewhere on campus. Another committee will be convened to decide on the location and type of permanent memorial that the university will construct. Tillar's committee suggested the area on the Drillfield across the street from the Duck Pond and off of West Campus Drive as a location for the permanent memorial. "This is a prominent position and a place of honor immediately opposite the Memorial Chapel with its Pylons that honor Virginia Tech war dead. The memorials will symbolically anchor either end of the Drillfield, another hallowed location on this campus," Tillar said in a statement. The permanent memorial will likely take several years to construct. -- Original Source: Big Lick U - June 7, 2007
Chris Winston <Chris.Winston@biglicku.com>
Now You Have Blood On Your Hands That Will Never Come Off
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech, has completed his transformation from Clark Kent to, well, Rambo. Having killed and maimed over thirty people, in a calculated and merciless way, he has shown another facet of evil and pain to the world. Alone, bitter, unhappy and insane, his sad story reverberates on several levels. Is it better to have stricter gun control, or have more guns in the hands of law abiding people to protect themselves? Have privacy laws and rights for the mentaly disabled gone too far, or should involuntary committment for treatment be easier to order? Has community and the support of family been destroyed by the cheapening of our culture, or has the stigma of needing help become so great that those most in need shun it? There were heros at Virgina Tech - Professor Lucinda Roy, who tried so hard to get Mr. Cho the help he so badly needed; another Professor, Liviu Librescu, a 76 year old Holocaust survivor who gave his life offering his body as a shield for his students; during the aftermath the poet, Nikki Giovanni, leading students in a cheer to affirm that they will survive and be stronger - 'We are HOKIES!'. But there is one party who will not be a hero during all this, and that is the National Broadcasting Company news organization. After Mr. Cho shot his first two victims in his dormitory, he made a rambling videotape with his jeremiad on debauched rich students and how they had driven him to this action, shortly before he entered a classroom, chained the doors shut and killed thirty more people. This insane person took the time to film and mail his video between murders, and NBC chose to make it public. Poor Dylan Klebold - he never thought of making videos before killing his classmates at Columbine High School. Now, Mr. Cho has created a new item in the iconography of mass murder, one that we will surely see again. We have come a long way from the days when shooting Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster was a ticket to fifteen minutes of fame and becoming an answer on a Trivial Pursuit card. Now we present a news network with 27 videos, 43 photographs and an 1,800-word narration described as "multimedia manifesto" from a "uniquely sick mind." NBC was quick to turn the package over to the FBI, right after making copies for itself. Mr. Cho could be speaking to NBC when he observes, "You had 100 billion chances and ways to have avoided today, but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now, you have blood on your hands that will never wash off." By choosing to give this presentation the validation of a platform, NBC has sent our nation and our heritage just one more step down a dank and violent road. Update: From 'Below the Beltway', an informative tribute by Doug Mataconis about Prof. Liviu Librescu posted by Peter Porcupine at 9:07 PM -- Original Source: http://capecodporcupine.blogspot.com/2007/04/now-you-have-blood-on-your-hands-that.html Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
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Student Use of Technology During Virginia Tech Tragedy
Posted Friday, April 20, 2007 by Eric Schnell on The Medium is the Message (Blog) As the Virginia Tech tragedy unfolded students used a familiar the technology to keep connected with the events, friends, and families: Facebook. Using laptops and wireless connections, students created new Facebook groups on the fly as the day unfolded. Thousands of people joined a group called "I'm ok at VT," which was used by students to announce that they were safe, ask for details about friends unaccounted for, and to report the names of victims. Other groups such as "VT Unite" were also created and thousands of people world wide not associated with VT joined them. The use of this social networking site to publish and discover information and report personal experiences was a natural since it is what today's students use to gather online. Facebook provided immediate and quickly-updated information. As I watched the quality of the footage released much it was obviously generated by camera phones. In my Technology Trends for 2007 post I described the emergence of a concept called Mobcasting, a phenomenon where event observers capture events on their video phones and podcast the footage on a blog. I described how the the resulting aggregation of content will lead to live event coverage by bloggers that is more in depth than can be captured by mainstream media. This tragedy demonstrated of power and potential of this concept. Unfortunately, there was dubious information also being created. There has already been media debate about the accuracy of the information that was contained on these sites. Of course, traditional media outlets have processes they use to vet information before it is released. While this verification of information takes time it is not flawless (Dan Rather, Jayson Blair). The trade off is that is one wants to have information faster it may not be as dependable or reliable. Still, I think there's a great potential for the ability to connect individuals that are there on-the-ground during events as they unfold and using blogs, RSS feeds, and Facebook as tool for publishing their personal experiences. While some can argue the result may not be as accurate as mainstream media, the coverage is significantly more complete. Original Source: http://ericschnell.blogspot.com/2007/04/student-use-of-technology-during.html This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 2.5 License.
the virginia tech massacre in the media: sermons and loners
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Listening to the Virginia Memorial, and all I hear is: "God-given", "God bless you", "community", "strength", "prayers", "family", "sanctuary", "violated', and of course, here come the leaders of the religious communities: "children of Adam and Eve", "singularity" (yes, unbelievable), "non-violence" (thank the buddhists), "faith", "darkness of Evil", "light", "seductive temptation" etc. The Memorial really turned into a sermon. But that's enough. I am here to try and compare the reactions, as seen in media from different continents, to the events of Virginia Tech. A reaction where it is easy to notice how, on different sides of the Earth, people are really interpreting (or trying to convince others to interpret) the story in radically different ways. Forgive me this, but you can see framing at work in crisis communications like you never see it at any other time. Here are the main points of view - soem of which are quite disturbing: "The Loner": now, since when mentally-ill people have become "loners"? However, this is how the 23-year-old responsible for yesterday's killings has been named by - well, basically most of the people who have been asked to talk about him, and subsequently by most media outlets? Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech, said: "He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him." (BBC/Fox News) I could not find this on the Korea Herald article though - I wonder why. "The sick American hater": not stated with these words, but this is how I could refrase a sentence like this: The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as an English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service. News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic, and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. (Fox News) Very different is the report on the BBC (which from the very beginning tried to omit information that could encourage racial hatred): US media reported that a "disturbing" note had been found in Cho Seung-hui's dormitory, and that he had been referred for counselling after producing "troubled" work in his creative writing class. (BBC) Let me say something: I have been watching the news, and all I saw was Caucasian students crying. All I could read were comments coming from Caucasian American-born (at least that is what I can deduce from the names) students. The dead killer seems to be the only "Asian oddball" (ironically speaking, of course) on campus - now no more. That is an illusion created by the media. You really have to search and look to find some facts on international student presence on the Virginia Tech campus: Only 7 percent of the more than 26,000 students at Virginia Tech are foreign, according to the school web site. But Chinese undergraduate and graduate students comprise nearly a third of that. (Fox News) Now, if you calculate, that means that about 1,820 students at Virginia Tech are in fact international students, and that about 607 are Chinese (therefore "Asian-looking"). Why have I not seen any interviews with these students? What are their reactions to a fellow international's debacle? Can they suggest what problems he might have had (such as a strong cultural shock associated with a pre-existent - or triggered - mental illness)? Why maybe he was "a loner"? I have plenty of experience with international students and their challenges, being one myself. Some peers, especially the ones of Asian descent, seem to be having more problems. In my university, there are about 10% of internationals, and maybe half of them, if not more, are Chinese. A quite smaller chunk are South Koreans. Our university, just like VTech, has some form of international student services - VTech is more advanced apparently, as they have an International Centre, which also offers advising services to international students. However, having worked with many of them, I can tell that often such services are inadequate, and "loneliness" (as well as heavy cultural shock) are not infrequent problems reported even (or maybe even more) by students who used such services. Moreover: what about the mentions of debauchery? I have seen it myself - and it ain't always pleasant. When I used to live on residence, I remember drunk (or drugged) people coming down from my roof at about 2 AM. They crushed on the path below, laughed, and went away. Loud parties, where booze and drugs are abundant, are a norm on residence. Should we limit them? No, but we need to help people who are not used to this kind of situation. And with the international student population growing on North American campuses growing, we might want to think about them. "The forgotten issue in American media: gun control": to find this, you need to visit forums on non-U.S. media websites, and check articles on international news outlets to see how this is an important issue related to the V Tech massacre. The risk of being killed by a firearm in the US is higher than in any other Western nation. Of countries outside war zones, the risk is greatest in South Africa, according to a United Nations report. (BBC) "No society that feeds its children on tales of succesful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded" Margaret Mead. A society that feels the need to arm itself with lethal weapons for protection from society, is no society at all. It's all about fear. Steve, Livingston, Recommended by 49 people Apparently, the rest of the world can see that, no matter the pain a mentally ill young person goes through (and which, given the killer's past action, must have been significant), access to automatic army-type weapons, deregulation of access to weapons, and the U.S. "gun culture" really are the main cause behind - classroom - shootings. Posted by steppen wolf at 11:43 AM -- Original Source: http://skeptalchemist.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-massacre-in-media-sermons.html Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
The Virginia Tech Shootings: A Case for Redundant Communications
By Fred Burton Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 Campus police at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., on April 17 identified the perpetrator of the shooting rampage on campus a day earlier as South Korean English student Cho Seung Hui. Thirty-three people died as a result of the attack and several others were injured, some seriously. The shooting began about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of co-ed dormitory West Ambler Johnston Hall. According to reports, Cho shot and killed his girlfriend and then a resident assistant who responded to the sound of the shots. Police were investigating those shootings when Cho stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building some half a mile away, and opened fire on faculty and students, killing another 30 people. The rampage ended when Cho killed himself. Authorities have not released many of the details of the attack, though several important points can be ascertained from the known facts. Given the history of school and university shootings in the United States, the certainty that others will occur and the warning from the FBI about a possible Beslan-style militant attack, the lessons from the Virginia Tech attack can be instructive - perhaps even lifesaving. Methodical Planning First, the shooting was planned in advance and methodically executed. This conclusion is supported by the fact that Cho carried two pistols and loads of ammunition, that he went directly to another building for the second phase of the attack and that he used chains to secure the main doors to Norris Hall before opening fire. The chains served to keep targets inside the building and to impede the entry of responding law enforcement officers. Cho had studied the building and planned accordingly. Although criticism has begun over the level of security at Norris Hall, and Virginia Tech in general, attacks of this nature cannot be prevented by security devices and programs. Educational institutions, especially sprawling universities, are soft targets that cannot be hermetically sealed like a federal penitentiary. As such, prison-style security measures would be not only impractical, stifling and prohibitively expensive, but also ultimately ineffective — because even tight security cannot stop a determined, suicidal attacker. On campuses, even the best physical security measures — closed-circuit television coverage, metal detectors, identification badges, locks and so forth — have finite utility. These measures serve a valuable purpose, but they cannot stand alone. For one thing, the technology cannot evaluate and react. Also, it can be observed, learned and even fooled. Moreover, because some systems frequently produce false alarms, warnings in real danger situations can be brushed aside. Given these shortcomings, it is quite possible for anyone planning an act of violence to map out, quantify and then defeat or bypass physical security devices. In fact, security devices can be relied on too much, resulting in a false sense of security. History shows us that even adding guards into the mix is not enough to prevent attacks. The March 2005 shooting in Red Lake, Minn., demonstrates that even strict access-control measures, such as ID badges, metal detectors and security guards, can be circumvented -or neutralized. In Red Lake, the security guard was the first person killed. Indicators of Planning In past cases, school shooters often have given prior warnings as to their intentions. In other words, they did not just "snap" and go on a killing spree. In most cases, their attacks were methodically planned, often over a long period of time. Jeff Weise, the teenage student arrested for the Minnesota shootings, allegedly spent more than a year planning his attack, including conducting walk-through rehearsals and noting the location of security cameras. Weise also had help from a friend, who eventually pleaded guilty to transmitting threatening messages via the Internet. As in workplace attacks, one of the biggest contributing factors to school shootings is the failure to identify the warning signs or to take the signs (even obvious ones) seriously. Because of this, following the April 1999 Columbine shooting, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service conducted an extensive study of school shootings and developed educational materials that have helped raise the awareness of such warning signs. The warning signs include sudden changes in a person's behavior, his or her decreased productivity, withdrawal from friends or the sudden display of negative traits, such as irritation, poor hygiene or snapping at or abusing fellow students. Perhaps the most indicative signs that serious trouble is looming are talk about suicide and/or the expression of actual or veiled threats. In most previous cases, especially those involving detailed planning, the factors leading to the violent outburst have built up over a long time. These factors have included failed romantic relationships, stress from family relationships, failing grades or perceived injustice at the hands of peers or teachers. As was highlighted in the Columbine case, quite often the shooter fantasizes about committing the attack for some time and even shares those fantasies with a friend or via an online form such as a blog or Web site. Due to the government's educational efforts, several attacks have been foiled by people who have recognized and reported the warning signs to authorities. Of course in some cases, the signs have been as blatant as students sharing their plans for an attack in advance with their friends or warning other students not to go to school on a certain day. Although the details of the events leading up to the Virginia Tech shooting are not yet clear, Cho apparently spent quite some time planning his attack, which strongly suggests he gave some indication of his intent that was not recognized or that he even made threats that went unheeded. There are now unconfirmed reports that Cho set at least one fire on campus, that he had stalked a student, that he had been sent for counseling and that he was taking an antidepressant. At least some of these indicators likely are true, and we anticipate that others will surface as the investigation into the attack progress. Warning Systems Some of the most critical comments about the Virginia Tech administration have centered on the long delay in notifying the faculty and student body that a shooter was at large, that the eventual warning was not transmitted to all and that it was confusing to those who did receive it. One source at Virginia Tech said many people received no warning and that communication of the event was "very much a case of who had cell phone or wireless devices before the system was overloaded and crashed." In some university buildings, such as the library, the public address system is not used to convey emergency instructions. The source said the result was that large clusters of students "seemed to be caught between orders to go inside and some sort of building evacuation instructions," and thus remained outside. This confusion was cleared up once police began using the PA systems on their vehicles to convey clear instructions to the students. So perhaps one of the biggest lessons from this attack will be the need for large institutions to have redundant and overlapping notification systems that will convey clear and consistent instructions. Such systems could incorporate e-mail notification, text messages and public address systems. Of course any such system would have to be routinely tested and refined to become more effective. Contingency Planning Historically, incidents of school shootings tend to spawn similar attacks so that three or four major incidents occur within a few weeks of one another. Given that precedent, the FBI's current concerns over a mass attack against a school, and the April 20 anniversary of the Columbine attack (which also is Adolf Hitler's birthday), it would be prudent for university security directors, local school boards, parents and students to review or establish emergency plans. Like 9/11, the massive 2003 U.S. power outage and Hurricane Katrina, the confusion evidenced in Blacksburg highlights the need for contingency plans in the event of an accident, natural disaster or attack by criminals or militants. Such plans are important not only for corporations and schools, but also for families and individuals. Furthermore, there should be a plan for each regular location — home, work and school — that outlines what each person will do and where they will go should they be forced to evacuate. This means establishing meeting points for family members who might be split up — and backup points in case the first one also is affected by the disaster. When such incidents occur, the ensuing chaos often results in difficulty communicating, as cell phone and regular phone circuits become overwhelmed with traffic. The lack of ability to communicate with loved ones can greatly enhance the panic felt during a crisis. Perhaps the most value derived from having a personal and family contingency plan is a reduction in the amount of stress that results from not being able to immediately contact a loved one. Knowing that everyone is following the plan — and that contact eventually will be established — frees each person to concentrate on the more pressing issue of evacuation. Because of this, communication is an important part of any such plan, and redundant forms of communication must be established in advance. Past crises such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have shown that even if cell phone and regular phone circuits are jammed, text messages and e-mail frequently will continue to work. This means that every member of the family, including technophobes, must learn to use text messaging and e-mail. While no emergency plan can account for every eventuality, such plans do provide a framework from which to work, even during times of panic. The open nature of schools and universities makes preventing attacks on campuses extremely difficult — though a student body, faculty and staff that know the warning signs can be a vital line of defense. Once an attack begins, proper communications and well-designed contingency plans can minimize the casualty count. Distribution and Reprints This report may be distributed or republished with attribution to Strategic Forecasting, Inc. at www.stratfor.com. For media requests, partnership opportunities, or commercial distribution or republication, please contact pr@stratfor.com. -- Original Source: http://crackerboy.us/emergency-preparedness-checklist/virginia-tech-shootings/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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Thursday, April 19, 2007 I first saw Blacksburg, and what was then V.P.I., almost fifty years ago, the summer of 1960. A member of my high school's chapter of the Future Farmers of America, I was attending the FFA's Virginia state convention - a wide-eyed rising 9th grader. About 5 foot six, I weighed little more than a large sack of chicken feed. I was a member of our school's second-string crop judging team; we did surprisingly well. Blacksburg was the "sleepy little college town" in the mountains then, home to a small agricultural and mechanical/military school and little else. You could count the traffic lights and have fingers left over. V.P.I. was essentially all-male and all-white; being a member of the corps of cadets was the norm. Foreign students and women on campus were not. The student body generally came from rural and small-town Virginia, where it was highly regarded. A turkey was the school mascot. It was so not UVA, William and Mary, or Hollins. It was not even V.M.I. Things change and stuff happens. By the time I graduated from high school V.P.I. was beginning its remarkable transformation into a major university. My lackluster high school record and vague aspirations did not make me highly sought after college material. But V.P.I. took a chance and accepted me. They had probably seen worse. After purgatory at their Danville Branch I finally arrived in Blacksburg in the fall of 1966. Evidence of the major commitment to transform Tech was everywhere: new buildings, overflowing dorms, expanding academic programs, a much larger and more diverse student body (though still not enough girls), and a major emphasis on athletics, mainly football. We even managed a traffic jam on some Saturday afternoons in the fall. Off-campus housing grew, a fine off-campus book store opened, along with a decent restaurant or two. Long hair and an underground newspaper appeared. The 60's arrived at Tech and Blacksburg sometime in the 70's, but it arrived. I should have been happy at Tech and Blacksburg, but I was not. Blacksburg seemed like the end of the earth. I called it Bleaksburg, a reference to more than its weather three seasons of the year. Driving into town one Sunday I nearly ran off the road laughing at a road sign where someone had written "armpit of the nation" under the word Blacksburg. The school's administrators - many holdover's from its days as a military school - seemed to be truly hostile to students. Their martial vision of what college life should be was not my vision. It was a conservative campus and I was, without much self consciousness, becoming quite liberal, at least by Virginia standards. I began to enjoy walking on their grass. My first fall on campus saw the football team invited to what I believe was its first bowl game, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. We were to play the University of Miami. I remember walking across campus one cold, cold night headed downtown for some food (I hated the food at Shanks) and seeing a student-made sign hanging in the wind. "Beat Miami" it said. Blacksburg, Miami. Blacksburg, Miami. Hunkered into the wind I had a hard time wrapping my mind around any idea that contained those words together. Yes, true to my school, I did drive what seemed like halfway across America in my Corvair to attend that game. But I wanted out. That would not be easy. I had just changed majors, from engineering to political science. PoliSci allowed the most electives at Tech and this would give me the chance to pretend I was at a liberal arts college where, by that time, I discovered I wanted to be. My academic record at that point was not much better than my high school record, making a transfer problematic. And there was a war on and a military draft, not something to be taken lightly. I needed that 2-s deferment. And I doubt I could have convinced my parents that it was a good idea to transfer. After all they were paying for my little adventure in academia. My salvation came from an unlikely series of events. That January a friend at UVA invited me to Charlottesville for a week-end. He said he would get us some dates from Mary Washington College and we would have a great time; might get lucky. I was all for a great time and good luck, so plans were made. That Friday came and with it a snow storm. I said what-the-hell and made for Charlottesville. The weather worsened and I was lucky to make it to campus. The train from Fredericksburg was canceled, as were the events of the week-end. What to do? He had a friend who had just returned from a semester aboard a ship that had sailed around the world. We went to see him. Still very much overwhelmed by the experience, he told stories for hours. When we left he gave us literature about the college program and said we should apply as soon as possible. Sounded good to me. Fast forward and I returned from that Semester at Sea with a larger view of myself, my world, and Blacksburg. Virginia Tech would continue to annoy me from time to time as it seemed slow closing the gap between what I wanted of it and what it could deliver. But I finally had matured enough to begin to take advantage of what it did offer, and to appreciate that wonderful place in the Virginia mountains, Blacksburg. I now have two degrees from Tech, having returned in the '80s for a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning. My wife also has two degrees from Tech. She grew up just outside Blacksburg. Her sister in-law works in Norris Hall, second floor. I have wonderful friends in Blacksburg who worked for Tech for many years. Even though I also have a degree from UVA and have great respect for the University, I am a Hokie. I have marveled at Tech's growth, been amazed at the transformation of Blacksburg into a world-class small city. So watching the news over the past few days has been hard. The violent death and injury of so many students and faculty at the hands of a psychopath renders words inadequate to convey the horror. One cannot look into the faces of horrified students and anxious or grieving parents without becoming one of them. Trying to make sense of it all seems overwhelming. And yet that is what each of us will try to do, needs to do. The young man with two handguns shot at us all. As tragic as the events of last Monday morning were we have the ability to make them worse. And we will. I could feel it as I was watching the first reports on CNN. Even as the news was happening I could feel the ramp up to what was coming: the second guessing, criticizing, the self-righteous placing of blame, the spin in service to political agenda. Even before we had time to learn the fate of friends and family, grieve, or learn the name or fate of the gunman, the process was well underway. Our TV hosts struggled to learn just where Blacksburg was and fumbled about trying to describe a university they knew little about. Tech was both a major university with 26,000 students and "insular" according to Brian Williams, who also placed it in the Smoky Mountains. While we were all trying to reconcile the image of a peaceful, semi-rural college environment with violence we usually associate with our urban areas or foreign theaters of war, the talking heads moved from conveying what little they knew about the horror unfolding on campus to asking leading questions and poking around trying to find an angle. They think they are reporters. It bled and it led for hours on end. After asking students what they saw or heard Wolf Blitzer and the other CNN reporters (I use the term loosely) made a point of asking if they still felt safe, if they blamed the University and if the were planning to transfer. It took a while before they stopped seeming surprised when the students usually said they loved their school, the community, and had not considered leaving. I thought generally the students interviewed sounded much more thoughtful than their hosts. And without the "like, you know what I'm saying." I was proud of them. Once it appeared that the gunman was dead and there was a two hour gap in the shootings the focus shifted to finding a way to question the University's handling of the situation. Well before any of the details were to fill out the timeline our TV hosts were pouncing, safely behind the camera miles away from danger or responsibility past filling commercial-safe airtime. Without possibly having the facts with which to assess situation they began to invite questions of competency of local law enforcement and the judgment of school administrators. When will we come to understand that when someone prefaces a statement, "I don't understand why ___", they really don't. You are being set up. Soon "experts" with little or no knowledge of the specifics began to appear and try to shape our view of the tragedy. Dr. Phil appeared early. We eventually heard from Ted Nugent (FOX?) who said this would not have happened if students were allowed to legally carry guns on campus. He did not mention bows and arrows. Can they work in Springer next? If we were not dealing with a real human tragedy, real suffering and loss, this would almost be funny. It is not funny. Once we learned the gunman was a student and was born in South Korea the press was perplexed. Even though he had lived in the US most of his life - since he was 8 years old - he was Korean. Since South Korea is an ally of the United States it has been difficult for the press to figure out how significant that was or how to play it. Now if he had been from the Middle East... Few bothered to remark that the killer was a young man and that young men are have almost exclusive ownership of this type of serial murder. You assumed the killer was male, didn't you? I did. I didn't expect the media to go there and they didn't. We now know he was recognized as a loner and "troubled," and had come to the attention of the school as such. He had received at least some attention from mental health and law enforcement professionals. The NYTimes gave us this morning, "Officials Knew Troubled State of Killer in '05." Well he was not a killer in '05. He was just a student with problems, probably not that unlike any number of other students on campuses from coast to coast. The headline whispers that the "officials" are now partially responsible for the crime. I am sure that these professionals wish now they could have seen into the future and done something. But I doubt even Cho Seung-hui could have done that in '05. Being "troubled" and dead brings us to the possibility that the tragedy includes Mr. Cho. While I am sure many would recoil at this so soon, the compassion and forgiveness that my Christian countrymen so often trot out as a model for others, might not be misplaced for this very mentally ill young man and provoke wonder how he became so bitter and twisted. No, it is much easier and entertaining to now find fault with the living, those doing their very best to ensure safety of others when that still, unfortunately, was not sufficient. Yes, I am sure campus police and other university officials wish they had done some things differently Monday morning. Given the contents of the package Mr. Cho sent to NBC that morning between shooting it is certainly possible only the location, names and number of future victims would have changed. What is likely however is that the number Mr. Cho's victims will continue to grow as some try to use the tragedy for their own ends. Regarding making sense of it all, once again our dim-bulb President got it wrong. He said on campus trying to mean well, It's impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering. Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they're gone - and they leave behind grieving families, and grieving classmates, and a grieving nation. Well, George, making sense of things is what what people at Universities try to do, and with some success. The question is what sense we will make of it. Don't try to suggest impossibilities at a place based on possibilities. And they were not in the "wrong place at the wrong time." A convenient cliche, but again off the mark. They were in the right place, Blacksburg, Virginia Tech. Go Hokies. posted by Bibb at 5:13 AM -- Original Source: http://bibbedwards.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0.
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Virginia Tech Massacre: Crucial Next Steps
4.16.2007 Horror is the natural first reaction. It is hard to get beyond tumultuous emotions given the stories, scenes, and sheer numbers coming out of the massacre today at Virginia Tech. The facebook has emerged from a period as a nascent form of disaster-response, as seen often enough with individual students deaths, to a full-blown mechanism for channeling overwhelming public grief. But moving rapidly beyond initial reaction is of paramount importance. Thinking clearly about the response to the incident is essential. Even as President Bush encouraged prayer today, he should have done something even more important - encouraged preparation. The grim prospect of copy-cat actions should be a very real concern for colleges and students nationwide, especially given the magnitude of the massacre and its proximity to the anniversary of the Columbine shooting and Hitler's birthday, among other things. As with Columbine, the unavoidable deluge of media and informal attention paid to the perpetrator will no doubt serve as a regrettable temptation to some. How can individual students possibly prepare? How will university administrations respond and prepare? These are questions that need to be moved swiftly to the front burner of public discussion. As someone who recently departed campus and may soon be returning to that environment, I think students should demand a proactive response from administrators even as they insist on retaining the personal liberties critical to a meaningful academic environment. The report that Virginia Tech students and staff did not receive e-mail notification of the incident until 2 hours after the first shots were fired is absolutely chilling. Eerily, it seems nearly impossible to fully prevent events like the one at Virginia Tech from happening without repressing student life beyond recognition. But some measures, at least in the areas of communication, can be taken. For starters, here are some possible proactive measures I can think of: 1. A sort of mobile phone-based Amber-type general Alert - Students could voluntarily sign up for a robocall (ironic, yes) alert to their cell phones that emergency services or the administration could send out upon receiving word of a campus shooting situation. The list would be used for no other purpose than such an alert. The same could be done with AIM addresses for a similar alert. Such a scheme would admittedly have the potential of having copycat problems of its own. 2. A specific pattern on tornado sirens or the lighthouse horn - As suggested in part by Erik Opsal on his blog, this would stand to get a general message across quickly. A specific distinct pattern of sounds (if possible) for a shooting situation could be conveyed to the student populace beforehand. 3. Chancellor's Blog - The chancellor should have a simple blog as a central resource wall for students and staff to turn to to get the most comprehensive and official news in the event of a crisis. Really, I am deeply saddened. The heinous actions of one domestic terrorist have ended the lives of 33 people - and stand to irreversibly alter the American higher educational experience for the worse. The lack of clear ways to prevent similar situations makes me almost physically ill. But forcing ourselves beyond the shock in short order is key. Moving forward, students on campus need to walk the unenviable tightrope of being wary of both unhealthy paranoia and potential copy-cat actors. I am thinking about a lot of friends out there on campuses. Sleeping in the dorms tonight will be tough. Going to class tomorrow will no doubt be difficult. So as you join facebook groups to grieve, join one - or start one - dedicated to putting forward pragmatic suggestions for dealing with the Virginia Tech incident in a concrete way on the UW campus and other campuses out there. It's a crucial next step. UPDATE: Liveblog of the days events from Bryce, a Virginia Tech student. Via Technorati. posted by Brad V at 5:42 PM -- Originally posted on April 16, 2007 by Brad Vogel on Letters in Bottles blog: http://lettersinbottles.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-massacre-crucial-next.html Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 A nutcase shot 32 people and himself in Virginia tech. He was a loner, was obsessed with violence, and left some notes blaming "rich kids" and "debauchery" (that is, disapproved of other people having more money and getting laid more often than himself - which is a rather common human emotion, but most people don't go postal because of it). The university is being blamed for not acting fast enough on the day of the shooting. I don't know if they should be blamed for it - I am sure an investigation will find out, one way or another - but what I would like to know is how come the university did not do anything after the guy harassed a few women and set fire to the dorm. (Maybe there is some good answer to that, too.) The man has also written two plays that the readers found very violent and highly disturbing. Here they are. I have read them and have not found them particularly violent or disturbing: they are rather violent, but I and people I know have written worse without shooting anyone, and they are quite angry in a teenagery way, but nothing really out of ordinary. They would not have rung a warning bell with me. I wonder if that's just me being desensitized to violence, or the people did not really see anything scary about them earlier and are just having a flash of hindsight now, or do the creative writing teachers and students see warnings much more efficiently than ordinary people like myself. There was a lot of conversation of gun control after this. I have no strong opinion on gun control one way or the other, at least as long as it does not interfere with my pistol shooting hobby (and currently in Finland it doesn't), but after seeing several people in the US point out that the gunman could have been stopped earlier if any of the students or teachers had a gun on them, and several of my friends on IRC make fun of this argument, I must say that those people in the US really do have a point: I don't, generally speaking, believe that an armed society is a polite society. It's a tradeoff: on one hand, if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have them, on the other hand it might well be safer when only the serious outlaws have guns than when every teenage hooligan has them. However, if we already are in a state where people are allowed to buy and carry firearms freely, banning guns from a small area like a university campus really will lead to a situation where everyone who is up to no good can have a gun, and no law-abiding citizen will. The worst of both worlds. Posted by Vera at 4/18/2007 12:40:00 PM -- Original Source: Vera's log http://izrailit.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-shooting.html This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
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Virginia Tech students prepare candles for the NIU vigil. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P0/
Attendee signs a message board at Virginia Tech's vigil for NIU. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P1/
Attendees light candles at Virginia Tech's vigil for NIU. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P2/
Attendees light candles at Virginia Tech's vigil for NIU. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P3/
View of candlelight vigil for NIU on Virginia Tech's Alumni Mall. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P4/
View of candlelight vigil for NIU under Torgerson Bridge at Virginia Tech. Photo by Kim Peterson Original Source: http://www.ee.unirel.vt.edu/index.php/vtnews/flip_book/C69/P5/