1
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Brent Jesiek
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Tom Tillar / Virginia Tech Alumni Association
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2008-04-15
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Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:15:25 -0400
From: Virginia Tech Alumni Association <vatechalumni@vt.edu>
To: All Alumni 4-10-08 <vatechalumni@vt.edu>
Subject: Hokie Spirit defines Virginia Tech a year later...
<b>Hokie Spirit defines Virginia Tech a year later...</b>
Last April, the world's attention focused on a campus community ripped to its very core with the grief and pain of a tragedy unparalleled in the history of American higher education. And what they observed was more powerful than they ever expected... they saw a campus filled with energetic students and talented faculty that displayed grace, poise and fortitude beyond all imagination -- a community fueled by something we know as Hokie spirit. That spirit reaches deep and spreads beyond the campus throughout our 200,000 alumni, and indeed across the entire globe.
Yes, Hokie spirit emerged from tragedy and impressed a world that was brought closer by the media to witness the strength and resilience of the entire Hokie Nation. On this anniversary our attention turns respectfully to the families who lost their loved ones last April 16th and to the students injured that day who are successfully putting their lives back together. It is a day of remembrance. The victims will be honored at a ceremony that will take place Wednesday on the Drillfield at 10:30 A.M. EDT. It will be televised by various media and streamed through the university's website <a href="http://www.vt.edu/">www.vt.edu</a>. President Steger and Virginia's Governor Kaine will make remarks. Other participatory events are being held throughout the day, and a candlelight vigil at dusk will signal the end of the day's observances.
The university is grateful for the expressions of support that have flowed from loyal alumni and friends around the world since last April. These expressions have come in the form of almost every artifact imaginable. To date, 87,000 different items (some displayed in our Alumni Center Museum on April 16th only). In excess of $9.5 million in memorial gifts. Special appearances by the Dave Matthews Band and the NY Yankees. Plus thousands upon thousands of well-wishing letters, e-mails and phone calls. And perhaps the most recent signal of prevailing Hokie spirit is the acceptance rate by students who have been offered admission to the university this coming fall - already hundreds ahead of last fall, which was itself a record-breaking year.
We see such optimism and spirit in the faces of our students, often represented by the countless hours they have poured into VT-ENGAGE service activities. Similarly, our alumni are honoring the university's year of renewal with a range of service activities, including participation in our <b>"VirginiaTech<i>forlife</i>"</b> blood drives staged by alumni chapters.
At the dedication of our permanent April 16th Memorial last August, SGA President Adeel Khan summed it up exceptionally well...
<i>Take time to remember the legacies, remember the dreams and remember the talent that our community has lost. I hope you are inspired to work harder to honor the 32. Share you talents with the world for the 32. Achieve your dreams for the 32. Be more compassionate, friendly and thoughtful for the 32. Be better, for the 32.</i>
In 2008, we remember the 32; we are thankful for the survivors; and we are proud we share together that incredible Hokie spirit.
Tom Tillar
Vice President for Alumni Relations
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eng
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Hokie Spirit defines Virginia Tech a year later...
alumni
alumni association
anniversary
tillar
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Brent Jesiek
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Tom Tillar / Virginia Tech Alumni Association
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2007-09-11
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Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:06:17 -0400
From: Virginia Tech Alumni Association <vatechalumni@vt.edu>
To: ALL ALUMNI SEPT 2007 <vatechalumni@vt.edu>
Subject: A Special Update for Alumni on the April 16th Tragedy...
I write on 9/11, the sixth anniversary of a tragedy that is etched into the memories of the citizens of the world. No act against our country, and indeed any free society, could have been more horrific or more cruel to end so many thousands of innocent lives in the course of a few hours. We remember that day and honor its victims, especially two of our own alumni who perished.
Virginia Tech, not many years later, was the scene of another horrific act, a massacre carried out by one individual, which was unparalleled in our nation's history. Another date that will remain etched in our memories. Our hearts continue to go out to the families of the students and faculty who lost their lives, and to the survivors of that day who suffered both physical and emotional injury. From all that has been learned about the student responsible for the killings, some have said he was intent on mass murder regardless of what anyone else did.
Much has happened to aid in the healing of our university, including its extended family of alumni and supporters everywhere. The poignant moment that first signaled healing was when Poet Nikki Giovanni ended our memorial convocation with the words "We ARE Virginia Tech" and then threw open her arms to the audience as they cheered. Her gesture at that moment, and the response that followed, convinced me we were going to be alright.
Many solemn ceremonies followed that day for weeks and months, and grieving continued. At our Commencement ceremony in May, most parents of the slain students were in attendance and were presented memorial class rings and posthumous degrees. President Charles Steger gave truly the "speech of his career" to comfort the audience and send a message of encouragement. Commencement was a new beginning and a significant moving forward from the tragedy, for many beyond the '07 graduates receiving diplomas.
Through the summer, a number of important events have occurred...
A committee, which I was honored to chair, swiftly designed and then oversaw the construction of a permanent memorial to the victims. It was dedicated on August 19th in the same location on the Drillfield that was the site of a temporary memorial created by students. It continues the theme of 32 Hokie stones honoring those who perished.
President Steger requested that Governor Kaine appoint a special "Review Panel" to investigate the April 16th tragedy and look at all of the ramifications of the incident. The president also appointed three special task forces internally: to look at ways the university might improve building security; an examination of the entire telecommunications infrastructure; and studying the interface of information-sharing among internal and external units and agencies affected by privacy laws surrounding mental health and disciplinary issues.
The Governor's distinguished panel and university task forces have all reported their findings. There are many recommendations that hopefully will help Virginia Tech, as well as similar institutions across the country, in avoiding such a tragedy in the future. Hindsight provides the opportunity to better understand how to identify and treat a person such as the one responsible on our campus, who was obviously very skilled at hiding homicidal tendencies from mental health professionals through most of his life.
The university recently has created an Office of Recovery and Support to offer continued assistance to the families of the victims, as well as the injured survivors. The office offers ongoing assistance to the larger campus community of students, faculty and staff. The University Provost also has appointed a committee to study alternatives for the use of all former classrooms in Norris Hall, and to make recommendations. Norris Hall is no longer used for general purpose classrooms, but has other considerable space dedicated to laboratories and offices. It will not be used as a memorial site or to display any April 16th memorabilia.
At the opening home football game against East Carolina University, we crossed another emotional hurdle and welcomed thousands of alumni back to the campus for the first time since the tragedy. East Carolina opened the game ceremonies with a very generous gift of $100,000 to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. The crowd responded with genuine "Hokies Respect."
On September 6th, a special "Concert for Virginia Tech" was contributed by the Dave Matthews Band and three other entertainers that the band invited. This concert was held in Lane Stadium and attended by some 50,000 students, faculty, staff and alumni. The concert was offered by Dave Matthews, a Virginia resident, immediately following the tragedy. Its comparable value was in the many millions of dollars. The entertainers accepted no fees or royalties. This nearly five-hour concert perhaps signaled the final event designed to promote healing for our campus and community.
I extend a special commendation to the faculty and staff of our university. From Charles Steger on down, all have had to assume roles never, ever in any job description. They have risen far beyond the call of duty in these months following April 16th to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy. They continued to comfort students, near and far, through the summer. As the fall semester began, they emerged in special ways to welcome both new and returning students.
The university also has launched a special service initiative called VT ENGAGE in remembrance of the victims, and in keeping with the university motto, "That I May Serve". All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to pledge at least 10 hours of service to the project of their choice, with completion by next April. The challenge goal is to perform 300,000 hours of community service. The Alumni Association has responded with a challenge to all alumni to match this service goal with another 300,000 service hours within your communities. Go to <a href="http://www.engage.vt.edu/">www.engage.vt.edu </a> to record your service hour pledge. What better way to demonstrate to the world how Virginia Tech pulls together to set an example for others in the spirit of Ut Prosim?
As performer Dave Matthews neared the end of his concert, he began, in a near whisper, lyrics that the entire crowd echoed over and over for several minutes. He sang, and we chanted softly, what we all truly feel...
<b>"Don't worry about a thing,
cause every little thing's gonna be all right."</b>
Tom Tillar '69
Vice President for Alumni Relations
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eng
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A Special Update for Alumni on the April 16th Tragedy...
alumni
alumni relations
special update
tillar
tom tillar
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Paul Trumble
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Paul Trumble
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2007-08-19
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Sometimes I can be really eloquent. Giving a toast at a wedding, a briefing at work; I can really hit the post. I've been wanting to write about how I feel here for two days. But I haven't, stopped by disbelief, the taxes I couldn't bring myself to finish on Monday, and the belief that I wouldn't adequately be able to put together words to explain what Blacksburg and Tech have meant to me.
That picture, <a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/6929893_3276db6dfb_m.jpg">http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/6929893_3276db6dfb_m.jpg</a>, is of a couple of my old room mates Jeff (in glasses) and Donnie tailgating at the Tech - USC game in August of 2004. I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986, with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. 20 plus years later, we are still close friends. Probably closer than we were in school. We vacation together, are godparents to each others kids, and watch football obviously.
Blacksburg is a special place. When you're there, you might not realize how special. It's beautiful, peaceful and even knows how to have a good time. I have idyllic (and therefore heavily filtered) memories of my time at school. I think that's why all of my old room mates and I are still such good friends. When you leave Blacksburg, you realize that the real world isn't so beatiful, isn't so peaceful, isn't so special. And you reach out and hold on to whatever can give you a little of that Blacksburg feeling again. After 20 years you'll still see most of the alumni I know dressed pretty much like the kids you've been watching on TV this week. Virginia Tech Sweatshirts and Hats are ubiguitous.
Returning to Blacksburg, was to drink in that atmosphere, to rejuvenate the energy that the real world has sapped from you. Coming around the 460 bypass and seeing the mountains rise up beyond campus elated me. A burger at Mike's, a pitcher at Hokie House, a walk across campus returned me to the man of my youth. And now that bastard has let so much of the real world into Blacksburg, where it doesn't belong and isn't welcome.
It's amazing the lasting ties that we have to Tech. One old college friend is an agronomy professor there now. I spent Monday morning exchanging emails with him as he was locked in his office. Today I can't help but think about all the students that I met at his tailgate last Fall. Jeff, I'm sure, knew Dr. Librescu. Three or four of the victims so far have been international studies majors. The statistical improbability of that I can't explain. I graduated in a class of 6,000 with only 12 other international studies majors.
Soon the news vans will leave, hopefully the TV movie vans won't come right behind them, and we can all hope that the ugliness of the real world ebbs back out of town. God bless the victims, the heroes, the students, everyone.
Ut Prosim.
posted by Paulie @ 07:02 April 18, 2007
Permalink: <a href="http://paultrumble.blogspot.com/2007/04/where-do-we-go-now-sometimes-i-can-be.html">http://paultrumble.blogspot.com/2007/04/where-do-we-go-now-sometimes-i-can-be.html</a>
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Where do we go now?
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international studies
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blog
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/Mourning III_53130f3898.jpg
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2007-06-18
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Chad Newswander
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Alex Taylor
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2007-06-18
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I left Blacksburg close to three years ago after attending Virginia Tech for both undergraduate and graduate school. I never thought that my sleepy alma mater tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains could be the site of such a horrific tragedy. My friends from VT have all expressed a desire to be in Blacksburg right now to take part in the grieving. We also agree that for now it is the place of the current students and faculty to deal with the loss within the local community. Since I couldn't be at the candlelight vigil tonight, this is my small display of solidarity.
I'm thankful that my remaining friends in Blacksburg are safe. My thoughts go out to the current residents of Blacksburg and everyone that is involved personally in this senseless tragedy.
Original source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/outcircuittheend/463434996/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/outcircuittheend/463434996/</a>
Photo Courtesy of Alex Taylor
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/outcircuittheend/463434996/
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very sad
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mourning
personal account
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/2006-2007 081_b95e1382fd.jpg
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2007-08-02
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2007-08-02 21:48:54
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Beverly Straightiff
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Beverly Straightiff
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2007-08-02
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My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of our lost Hokies. This has been a very difficult time for all of us. The memorial issue of Virginia Tech magazine was done very nicely and inspired me to share our support. I am a 1992 graduate of Virginia Tech. I work as a Training Manager at GEICO in Fredericksburg, VA. There are several GEICO offices across the country and the entire company participated in Hokie Hope day. I was proud that my school and my work came together during this most difficult time. I wanted to share a picture of my team.
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Hokie Hope Day at GEICO in Fredericksburg, VA
alumni
fredericksburg
geico
hokie hope
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Na Mi
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Danielle Williamson/Daily News staff
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2007-07-17
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By Danielle Williamson/Daily News staff
GHS
Tue Apr 17, 2007, 12:07 AM EDT
NO DATA - For Bill Saam, the slaughter yesterday at his alma mater resurrected the shock, sadness and anger he felt when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center.
"On a personal level, the feeling I had today was very much the way I felt on 9/11," said Saam, a Northborough resident and 1992 Virginia Tech graduate.
An active member of the college's alumni association, Saam was in touch yesterday with other classmates who struggled to comprehend the news.
"It's very much a tight-knit community," he said. "I hope no one from New England is directly affected by this."
Saam described Blacksburg as a "small, rural area."
"You don't hear about crime down there, never mind shootings," he said.
For Milford native Jim Pyne, a 1993 Virginia Tech graduate, yesterday's murders are a sad reflection on the state of society.
"We have people who fly planes into buildings ... and screwballs who have guns and shouldn't have them," said Pyne, a former professional football player. "It's the society we live in, and it's just despicable."
Pyne, who was an All-American at Virginia Tech and played nine seasons in the NFL, said he watched much of the news yesterday but "couldn't keep watching it. It doesn't seem real."
"I've been in all those buildings. I took classes there," Pyne said. "I feel for the parents of the 33 kids and I'm horrified about what happened and what it's like for them."
Peter Darby of Charlestown, who leads the New England chapter of Virginia Tech's alumni association, said the Boston area has 1,300 alumni, many of whom were in contact with each other yesterday.
"We're stunned just numb," Darby said.
For Waltham native Marcus Ly, the shootings were particularly difficult to comprehend.
"I called a lot of my friends in Blacksburg. They're all OK," said Ly, a Virginia Tech grad student speaking by phone yesterday from Minneapolis. "But it's just a lot of confusion, they don't really know anything more than we do reading the headlines."
A 1995 Waltham High School graduate, Ly finished a graduate school program in industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech last winter.
"It's really the equivalent of something like this happening in Weston," said Ly, trying to describe the town of Blacksburg, home to the 2,600-acre Virginia Tech campus. "It's one of the safest cities I've ever lived in and I've lived in a lot of cities."
Natick's Chris Mitchell, a junior at Virginia Tech, never imagined such horror could occur on the campus.
"It's a small town and a university where everybody knows everybody," Mitchell, an economics major, told WCVB-TV. "It's the last place where you'd think something like this would happen."
Newton resident Theodore Fritz recognized the buildings photographers captured throughout the day.
"I'm certainly transfixed here," said Fritz, a 1961 Virginia Tech graduate who watched television reports throughout the day.
A Boston University professor, the killings affected Fritz both as a college educator and a Virginia Tech alumnus.
"I think this probably could have happened anywhere," he said.
Danielle Williamson can be reached at 508-490-7475 or dwilliam@cnc.com. Daily News staff writers Albert Breer and Nicole Haley contributed to this story.
--
Original Source:Framingham,MA - The MetroWest Daily News
<a href="http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/local_news/x1298126656">http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/local_news/x1298126656</a>
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Massacre of 32 at Virginia Tech shocks alumni in MetroWest
alumni
boston university
massacre
metrowest
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Brent Jesiek
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Galen Moore / The Milford Daily News staff
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2007-07-17
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By Galen Moore/Daily News staff
GHS
Fri Apr 20, 2007, 12:55 AM EDT
WESTBOROUGH - Andrew Dyche is safe, but for 30 terrifying minutes Monday his mother, Amy Belue, didn't know it.
Dyche, a 2003 graduate of Westborough High School, will graduate from Virginia Tech in June. He was at home in his off-campus apartment the morning fellow student Cho Seung-Hui shot 32 people, then turned a gun on himself.
On Monday, after learning of the killings from a co-worker over the Internet, it took Belue, who now lives in Colorado, 30 minutes of trying and re-trying jammed telephone circuits to reach her son. When they got through, the campus was already locked down, he told her.
Dyche left Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday to stay with high school friends at the University of Connecticut. The atmosphere at Virginia Tech, where both his mother and father also went to school, was too much to bear, he said.
"Our campus is still swarmed with reporters, news media and cops," he said. "No one's really leaving their apartments."
The university canceled classes for the week.
Dyche, who first learned of the shootings when his roommate called him from a bus that had been stopped, didn't know any of the students who were killed or injured Monday.
For that, he feels lucky.
The week's events came as a shock, but they won't change his opinion of the school, he said. When he goes back, he will feel as safe as he could hope to feel anywhere, he said.
Belue, who moved with her husband, Dyche's stepfather, to Colorado in 2004, said she still feels a strong bond with the college she attended 30 years ago.
"We just love the community down there," she said. "It's so sad this is a part of the history now."
Dyche said though he knows there will be questions, he hopes students won't turn to blaming authorities for what happened.
"It's kind of difficult that (Cho) took his own life, because now it feels like we need to shift the blame somewhere else," Dyche said. "He's gone and you can't take it out on him."
(Galen Moore can be reached at 508-490-7453 or gmoore@cnc.com.)
--
Original Source: Milford, MA - The Milford Daily News
<a href="http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x663839027">http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x663839027</a>
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Westborough grad, a Virginia Tech student, is safe
alumni
parents
reaction
student
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Bibb Edwards
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2007-06-17
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<p>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,</p>
<blockquote>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.</blockquote>
<p>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 <a href="http://bibbedwards.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html">5:13 AM</a>
--
Original Source: <a href="http://bibbedwards.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html">http://bibbedwards.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html</a>
Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0</a>.</p>
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Greg Ritter
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I'd been thinking about starting this blog up again for a few weeks now. I didn't think I'd have something so tragic to write about.
Probably it goes without saying that my thoughts and best wishes go out to the students, faculty, and staff at my alma mater, Virginia Tech, and especially to the families and friends of the victims.
I was working from home today, heads down with all my external inputs (radio, TV, email, IRC, RSS feeds, etc.) turned off, so it wasn't until mid-afternoon that I became aware of what had happened. It has shaken me up, more than I would have expected it would.
It's disconcerting to see a community that you've been part of suffer an event like this, especially when you see so many images on the news of places you're quite familiar with. When I was a student at Virginia Tech, I had friends who lived on the 4th floor Ambler-Johnston Hall, where the first shooting took place. I had classes in Norris Hall, where the second shooting occurred. I know these places. They were my places. It was my community. Even though I've been gone from Tech for a long time, it still hits close to home.
Back in '88-'89 I was one of the editors of the <a href="http://www.collegiatetimes.com"><em>Collegiate Times</em></a>, Virginia Tech's student newspaper. I've thought a lot about the students working at the <em>Collegiate Times</em> today. What was the biggest story we dealt with back in '88-'89? I think a steroids scandal on one of the sports teams. Nothing to compare to what happened today. What a time it must be for those young, aspiring journalists. How difficult it must be to cover what will probably be the biggest story of your life when you are just twenty or twenty-one. Doubly difficult since it is the slaughter of your classmates that you have to cover. As young journalists they must feel a great deal of excitement at The Big Story . . . and, at the same time, a great deal of guilt and dread for being excited while their friends lay dead. I hope they sense the importance of their role of as the student voice of the Virginia Tech campus more than ever. (<a href="http://www.collegiatetimes.com">CollegiateTimes.com</a> is down, and the server is re-directing to <a href="http://CollegeMedia.com">CollegeMedia.com</a>, the parent site for the student media outlets at Tech. And I just noticed that the <em>Collegiate Times</em> Online Editor, who has been posting to <a href="http://www.collegemedia.com">http://www.collegemedia.com</a> all afternoon is named Christopher Ritter. No relation, if you were wondering.)
Besides my former professors, I only know a couple of people still at Virginia Tech. None of them were likely to have been in either of the buildings where the shootings took place, but I've dropped them emails anyway. And I've been contacted today by former classmates who I haven't heard from in years. When something like this happens, you start thinking about the people who shared your life then and you want to reach out to them, even if you've been silent for years, because their the only ones who are going to understand your loss in the same way.
The news reports are saying that this is the worst shooting on a college campus in American history. Oddly, one of the other campus massacres that has been mentioned repeatedly was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Lu_Massacre">1991 shooting</a> rampage by a physics grad student (who also killed himself) at the University of Iowa, where I went to graduate school. My other alma mater. That took place just three months after I left Iowa City, and, unlike today's tragedy at VT, I knew many people who were on campus at that time.
Then a few years back, in the fall of 2000, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101010625-130940,00.html">a student murdered one of his classmates</a> at Gallaudet University, and went un-apprehended for months until he killed again in February. I had worked at Gallaudet for three years and left just a bit more than a year before the murders there. Again, I was gone, but, again, I knew many people affected by this. It wasn't the kind of rampage like at Iowa or Virginia Tech, but it held the campus hostage to fear nonetheless.
So this is the third time I've watched a campus where I have lived, studied, or worked be victimized by a murderer.
It sucks. It sucks for me, it makes me cry to see a community -- <i>my community</i> -- ravaged, even after I've been absent from it for years
And as miserable and helpless as I feel, I can't imagine how horrible it is for those living through it.
Posted by Greg on April 16, 2007 10:48 PM
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Original Source: <a href="http://www.tenreasonswhy.com/weblog/archives/2007/04/thinking_about_1.html">http://www.tenreasonswhy.com/weblog/archives/2007/04/thinking_about_1.html</a>
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Thinking about Virginia Tech
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Elliott Gordon
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Elliott Gordon
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2007-06-01
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"I belong."
I still remember vividly that emotion as I stood outside Burress Hall overlooking the gorgeous, expansive view of the Virginia Tech campus on a cool, sunny morning back in the spring of 1990. It was college-tour season for graduating high-school seniors, and I had found my home for the next four years.
The tragedy this past week has only deepened and strengthened my affection for the university. Once a Hokie, always a Hokie.
A lot has been vocalized and written by alumni, students, friends, business leaders, politicians, athletes, the media -- really anyone with a shred of a tie to Blacksburg -- about how tranquil and safe and welcoming the campus and surrounding community has always been. And they are not exaggerating.
Virginia Tech and the city of Blacksburg are synonymous. Graduates own local businesses. Former students now teach. Former athletes now coach.
This part of the country used to be just Hokie Nation -- now it is Hokie Nationwide.
The nationwide reaction to this senseless tragedy has also crystallized for me how in a time of grief -- even if just for a few, fragile hours -- sports provides an outlet and plays a role on the road to recovery. The outpouring of support has raised school spirits during this dark time.
I applaud the Washington Nationals for donning Virginia Tech caps during their game Tuesday, caps that will now take a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame next to its 9/11 memorial.
I applaud NASCAR for placing memorial, VT logo decals on the cars, especially given the deep roots many of the teams and drivers have with that region of the country.
I applaud Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick -- arguably the most popular and well-known athlete ever to wear a Virginia Tech jersey -- for his generous donation to the university for the victims families.
And I applaud coach Frank Beamer for his cancellation of the traditional Maroon and White Football game. He is a class act, emphasizing the need to heal before you hooray -- and I guarantee you this fall when the first few cords of Enter Sandman blare throughout Lane Stadium for the opening home game of the season, those tears you see will once again be for joy.
But for now we work to dry the tears of sorrow, knowing that Virginia Tech and its local and extended community will never be the same. This could have happened to anyone, in any town, at any school, at any time -- but it happened at my school, where not so long ago I was the one walking across campus to Norris Hall for class. And while I did not personally know any of the victims, the entire Hokie Nation has been victimized.
And now, as the entire world watches, the international community is realizing that Hokie resolve is as strong as the stone that bares its name -- stone that has been used for more than 130 years to build the campus and community.
The memories and images of this tragic event will forever scar, and we will never forget, but my personal resolve to one day have my children stand on those same steps outside Burress Hall as I did has not wavered.
We are Virginia Tech.
Elliott Gordon graduated Virginia Tech in 1994. He was NASCAR.COM's Director of Programming from 2001-2006.
--
As posted on NASCAR.COM on April 20th, 2007:
<a href="http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/opinion/04/20/guest.column.virginia.tech/story_single.html">http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/opinion/04/20/guest.column.virginia.tech/story_single.html</a>
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Sports world reaches out, helps Virginia Tech cope
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/108_0891_4d24383d64.JPG
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Ben Long
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Ben Long
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2007-05-11
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During a service in remembrance of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus spoke about how his time at the university. informed his understanding of God. Andrus and his wife Sheila attended graduate school at the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus.
The noon service on Tuesday April 24 2007 at Grace Cathedral was attended by about 70 people, including 20 or so Virginia Tech alums.
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Grace Cathedral Memorial San Francisco Tuesday April 24 2007
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Bryan McDonald
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Bryan McDonald
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2007-05-02
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There are times when the three hour time difference between the East and West coasts is significant in ways one could never imagine. On April 16, this time difference meant that when I arrived at work at 8:00 am the events at Virginia Tech had already occurred, although it would be some hours until a more complete picture about the magnitude of the tragedy became clear. In the days since I have again felt myself to be part of that unique family that is Hokie nation. I have been in contact with roommates, friends, and teachers that I had not spoken with in years. And I have thought a great deal about the meaning and implications of the shootings.
In many ways, this is just part of my normal activities. I work for a research center that examines how forces of global change are transforming security threats that confront states and their citizens. I often spend much of my day thinking about threats and vulnerabilities from terrorism, crime, and infectious disease. But the events of April 16 have presented me with a challenge as I consider the events not only from a security studies perspective, but also as someone who lived in Blacksburg for five years and earned two degrees from Virginia Tech.
A few years ago, the center I work for conducted a project on school safety and emergency preparedness. One of the lessons I came away from the project with was an understanding that school shootings occur in places that seem unlikely, most often suburban and rural areas. In this way, Virginia Tech is like many of the other campuses - California State University at Fullerton, the University of Iowa, San Diego State University, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Virginia Appalachian School of Law, the University of Arizona Nursing College, and West Virginia Shepherd University�that have been victims of shooting incidents. None of these schools are located in areas that spring to mind as particularly dangerous or crime ridden.
Another lesson I came away from our project with is the understanding that school shootings are like many other forms of modern crisis in that they are often over before first responders arrive. In such instances, the real first responders to incidents are whoever happens to be at the location of an incident. The stories that have emerged about April 16 show a remarkable amount of heroism and selflessness. When faced with an unexpected danger, teachers and students responded, often with very little time to consider their situation, to help others and try and reduce the danger they faced.
In the aftermath of the events of April 16, 2007, many people have been trying to make sense of what occurred and asking about the lessons that can be learned from the events. One lesson that seems clear is that geography is no real protection from these sorts of tragedies. As someone who studies security threats, I can see that the events at Virginia Tech make it clearer that on the changing security landscape on which we now find ourselves, people and organizations at all levels of society must ask what they can do to prevent and prepare for events like these. But as someone who spent an important and formative part of my life at Virginia Tech, I am deeply saddened that Virginia Tech will now be among the events we discuss, and that many people's memories of Blacksburg will be of the scenes of tragedy they saw unfold on April 16.
Bryan McDonald
B.A. English (1997)
M.A. Political Science (1999)
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alumni
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Vincent Rivellino
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2007-04-29
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The following article was originally published at HokieHaven.com: <a href="http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=664661">http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=664661</a>
It is also available at TechSportBlog.com:
<a href="http://www.techsportsblog.com/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-tragedy/">http://www.techsportsblog.com/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-tragedy/</a>
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It's been awhile since my last blog post. Nearly a month, in fact. As a fan, I put a lot of time and energy rooting for my Virginia Hokies on the football field, then on the basketball court, and I needed a break. To get things going again, I was planning on a blog post title "The Off-Season" about how Hokie fans spend their time during the spring and summer before football starts anew in the fall.
Instead of writing about our fans and our football team, I am instead attempting to write about the tragedy that occurred yesterday on the campus of Virginia Tech. This is just a mere attempt, because it is very difficult to find the words to describe the feelings I have experienced since I learned of the magnitude of yesterday's events.
When I learned of the first shooting, and only one person was reported to have died, my initial thought was that some one got mad at his girlfriend. I was surprised, because shootings just don't happen in Blacksburg, but I wasn't shocked, because domestic violence happens all too often.
When the death toll went from 1 to over 20, I am not exactly sure what I felt. I was shocked, but I was also numb. During the early and mid-afternoon hours, it was a very surreal experience watching the story unfold on the internet. It was unfathomable to think that Virginia Tech would be the site of the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
I went home from work at about 4pm, and I turned on the television. When I saw the images and heard the sounds of yesterday's events, it started to sink in. One image in particular hit home - it was a picture showing shocked students standing behind the glass doors of one of the entrances of McBryde Hall. I used to work for the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech, and my office was on the first floor of McBryde. I used to walk in and out of those doors on a daily basis. It was disheartening to see students watching the tragedy unfold from behind those very same doors.
Last night, my thoughts began to drift back to my days at Virginia Tech, both as a student and as a staff member. There was never a time where I felt unsafe walking around campus or around town. There was never a time where I felt unsafe inside a classroom. For today's students, they will not feel safe anywhere they go for a long time. I simply cannot imagine what it is like to be a student, faculty, or staff at Virginia Tech right now, let alone to be one of the wounded or one who knows a victim.
College campuses are special places. I like to think that the campus of Virginia Tech is extra special, but everyone feels that way about their alma mater. When I walked around Virginia Tech and Blacksburg during football or basketball weekends, I was reminded of so many good times I experienced during my time there, and I felt a disconnect from the strife of the "real world". There is a youthful innocence that pervades college campuses. It touches everyone there, from the 17 and 18 year old freshmen, to the 60 year old professors who only know life in academia.
Yesterday, that innocence was ripped from the hearts of every Hokie, and it was stolen away from anyone who has spent more than a minute on a college campus.
Since the hours that innocence was taken from us, the Hokie Nation has experienced disbelief, deep sadness, and anger. Many of us are still in shock, and it has started to sink in for others. For too many Hokies, a friend or loved one has fallen.
However, in every cloud there is a silver lining. We have seen an overwhelming outpouring of support from members and fans of other universities and colleges. I have been deeply moved by the well wishes I have seen on our Rivals.com HokieHaven board, TechSideline.com's Lounge board, as well as TheSabre.com's The Corner board. I am sure there are many other internet message boards that have similar threads voicing support for the Virginia Tech community.
On behalf of Virginia Tech and the Hokie Nation, I'd like to say "thank you" for keeping our community in your thoughts and prayers. It is comforting to see the kinder and gentler side of the human spirit after such a horrific event.
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TechSportsBlog.com reaction to tragedy
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vincent rivellino