Violence Without Reason
By John Davisson
PUBLISHED APRIL 16, 2007
Thirty-two dead and dozens more wounded in Blacksburg. A Journalism School student raped, cut, and burned in Hamilton Heights. These are the twin horrors—baffling, appalling, and without reason—that greeted Columbia's community on Monday.
Sadistic acts are lamentable and far-too-common features of the human experience. Each successive day brings with it reports of gut-wrenching atrocities, many on a greater scale than these two attacks, most eliciting a quieter outcry. But our empathy and fear operate in analogues, so it gives us special pause when senseless brutality impacts those bound to us through shared educational experience, whether at Columbia or a peer institution.
In these cases, we cannot help but ask why, how, and most alarmingly whether such incidents could recur, but the replies do little to diminish the widespread sense of confusion and grief. One wonders what train of thought led someone to butcher a room full of fellow human beings or brutalize a lone victim, but the causes seem to defy reason, and the savagery yields few good answers. Violence, author Jean Genet wrote, is a calm that disturbs you.
In the coming days, much will be said about prevention: what could have been and should be done to forestall such acts of cruelty. This is a good and crucial discussion, but, sadly, one that cannot erase the pain inflicted on the victims and those close to them. Time may bring a degree of distance and comfort, but investigation will only supply the how—never the root causes, the why.
We offer, as do all, our deepest condolences to those affected by these crimes, and we hope that the coming weeks will offer them some measure of healing.
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Original Source: Columbia Spectator
<a href="http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24875">http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/24875</a>
John Davisson
2008-02-17
Kacey Beddoes
Tom Faure (tomfaure@gmail.com)
eng
Task Force to better secure OSU campus
By: Alaina Busch
Posted: 4/30/07
Representatives from Ohio's colleges and universities will meet today as part of a statewide effort to address campus security issues and concerns.
Today's meeting is the first for the Campus Security Task Force, formed at the request of Gov. Ted Strickland after the Virginia Tech shootings.
"The effort is to ensure the communication and response efforts are better than adequate,"said Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey.
The Ohio Board of Regents organized the discussion-based group composed of more than 70 representatives from Ohio's public and private colleges and universities. The representatives will meet by videoconference at eight sites throughout the state, including the Ohio Supercomputer Center in Columbus.
The Board of Regents is a nine-member panel that coordinates higher education policy in Ohio and makes recommendations to the governor and General Assembly. Chancellor of Higher Education Eric Fingerhut said each university's president and board of trustees are legally responsible for their campus safety. He said the task force will first identify the best practices available and then decide what the state can do to be more helpful.
"There is value in sharing plans," Fingerhut said. The task force will compare safety practices and recommend future actions to the governor based on their findings. Depending on how the group's ideas evolve, the outcome could include a statewide coordination of safety practices or a legislation proposal, said Fingerhut.
Rick Amweg, assistant chief of University Police, and Todd Stewart, director of OSU's program for International and Homeland Security, represent OSU along with students Sean McKinniss and Jamie Levine.
"Students are on the front line in the efforts to prevent," Fingerhut said. "Students bring a very important perspective to this."
Levine, a first-year MBA student, said it is important to compare resources and share ideas.
"The causes are bigger than one university," she said, citing gun control policies and mental health issues as areas of consideration.
Levine worked in downtown Washington D.C. during the Sept. 11 attacks as an undergraduate student at American University. She said she experienced first-hand campus safety issues when her campus was evacuated because of bomb threats.
"In reality, there's no way to prevent this," she said. "You can do things to mitigate them, but you can't live in fear."
Alaina Busch can be reached at busch.61@osu.edu.
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Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2007/04/30/Campus/Task-Force.To.Better.Secure.Osu.Campus-2888077.shtml>The Lantern - April 30, 2007</a>
Alaina Busch
The Lantern
2007-08-16
Sara Hood
GERRICK LEWIS <lewis.1030@osu.edu>
eng