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Sara Hood
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Adam Rizzieri
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2007-08-24
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By:Adam Rizzieri
Posted: 4/20/07
It is no mystery that the tragedy of April 16 at Virginia Tech stands out as the deadliest student-perpetrated school shooting in the history of the United States. It goes without saying that an immediate sense of shock spread across the nation as we learned of the tragedy unfolding from networks like CNN and Fox News. Among the 32 innocent lives that perished on a day that will be forever engraved into the memory of our nation was a Holocaust survivor, a few well-established professors and several bright minds who had a beautiful future stolen from them.
With this tragedy, the debates about gun control and explicit video games and music are likely to re-emerge, just as they did after the events at Columbine and other instances where schools have fallen victim to this societal plague. Are guns too easy to obtain, and do violent music and video games truly desensitize people to the point where it's easy to take a human life? These are questions that have emerged in the past; however, in this case I feel that they are not what need to be asked.
The shooter at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hiu, was a 23-year-old who had a history of violence and irrational behavior. Before his murderous rampage, it should be noted that he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital, was the subject of two police reports in 2005 for stalking, and was known among the Virginia Tech faculty as "intimidating." In fact, the chairman of the English Department, Dr. Lucinda Roy, took his dark poetry to campus police after his professor, Nikki Giovanni, expressed her intentions to quit if he wasn't removed from her class. Cho wasn't your typical student, and though I'm not a psychiatrist, I think it's safe to say that he didn't kill his peers because of music from Marilyn Manson or "shoot 'em up" video games.
This kid was a product of psychology and his interpretation of personal grievances. It is very likely, and almost obvious, that he suffered from some type of antisocial personality disorder. If any of you have seen the video he mailed to NBC in between his first and second round of attacks, his rambling of anger toward rich kids and hedonism serves as a tool for analysis on his psychological state. Phrases like "you decided to spill my blood" and "you forced me into a corner" show that Cho likely felt powerless and believed murder was the solution to his grievances. After a collegiate history of dark poetry and disturbing writings, he likely began to fixate on murder as a solution to regaining control of his problems.
Despite the possibility that he felt powerless or whatever else his grievances might have been, this guy is not the victim he thought he was. Metaphorically speaking, Cho was a "cry baby" that threw the worst temper tantrum imaginable. The accessibility to guns and violence that exists in some video games is not what took the lives of the 32 innocent people. It's not guns that kill people; rather, it's people who kill people with guns (and knives, ropes and bats).
Cho had no felony convictions, and thus was allowed to legally purchase a 9 mm Glock five weeks before these terrible killings. The reason I say gun control is not an issue in this case is simple. A person who is determined to shoot someone will find a way to obtain a weapon legally or illegally. The law doesn't stop law-breakers from breaking the law; it simply affects those who abide it. That is, a criminal will continue to break the law while a law-abiding citizen will adhere to the constraint of law. Therefore, any change in gun control is irrelevant to criminals both present and future.
So when left with this situation, what questions should be asked? Was this the result of a failure in parenting? Perhaps people ignored an obviously disturbed individual who could have been treated by a psychiatric professional. There is no justification for the taking of innocent lives, but perhaps as a community of scholars we should ask ourselves, do we ignore the weird, quiet kid in class?
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/20/Opinion/416-A.Product.Of.Psychology.Or.Gun.Control-2870609.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 20, 2007</a>
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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4/16: A product of psychology or gun control?
southern methodist university
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Sara Hood
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Ben Briscoe
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2007-08-24
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By: Ben Briscoe, Contributing Writer, bbriscoe@smu.edu
Posted: 4/25/07
First-year Weston Ashley went out to benches in front of his residence hall, Mary Hay, at 2 a.m. on the night of Oct. 12, 2006 to get his last nicotine fix before heading to bed, like he had done so many times before.
But this night was different.
As he sat alone in the cold air listening to The Killers on his iPod, a man Ashley had never seen before walked up to the four empty benches and sat down right beside him.
"At first I didn't think anything of it," Ashley said. "He just asked me if he could buy a cigarette from me, and I said no and gave him one instead."
The two then chatted for about 10 minutes about the lack of diversity at SMU before Ashley caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of something alarming.
"I remember turning to him and sticking out of his big puffy jacket was a butcher knife," Ashley said. "I just pretty much froze. In my head I was like, 'Oh my God, I am gonna die.'"
But Ashley's nerves calmed, and his instincts kicked in. He quickly told the man goodnight and then walked briskly, "hell almost running," to his room and called the police.
About 20 minutes later police caught up with the man. He was holding another student by knifepoint outside of the Owen Fine Arts building.
While the man was quickly taken to the Dallas County Jail, the memory still lingers in Ashley's mind.
"Every once and a while I will think about it, and my heart will skip a couple of beats," he said. "You feel you're so safe because we live in this Highland Park bubble where everything is so nice and pretty and clean, but the truth is that we're not safer here than anywhere else. It's a hard thing to realize."
That's exactly how Virginia Tech Wildlife Science major Danielle Kulas said she felt after the shootings last Monday.
"I just remember thinking at first that April Fools Day had already gone by. I couldn't believe this was happening here," she said. "The part that really baffled me was when I found out the first shooting was in the dorm right next to mine."
The reason Kulas said she had a hard time believing that the shootings were happening was because her dorms had seemed so safe until then.
According to VT's police crime logs, fewer serious crimes (such as murder, sex offenses, robbery, assault, theft and arson) occurred in the Tech's residential facilities in 2005, the last year with data available, than SMU's residential facilities have had in the last three months. In the whole of 2005, there were seven forcible sex offenses, 11 burglaries and seven cases of arson for a total of 25 incidents at VT's dorms. Since Jan. 1, SMU's residential halls have been the site of five assaults, 20 thefts, one arson and three criminal trespasses for a total of 29.
For Jeanie Goodson, mother of incoming first-year Caroline, it's those numbers and last Monday's event at Virginia Tech that are causing her to worry about her child living by herself in the fall.
"I would not say I am petrified about sending my girl off to college, but after Virginia Tech, her safety next year has been on my mind a lot," Goodson said. "But you can't keep your child in a Zip-lock bag; the best thing I can do is to tell her to be careful and hope for the best."
That's exactly the policy that Residence Life and Student Housing Director Doug Hallenbeck likes to stress.
"It's a unique and difficult balance between safety and security and being more of a jail state," Hallenbeck said. "People don't want to live where RAs are going in daily to do room checks, so we have to balance that sense of home with a sense of security."
To do that, the university utilizes two main methods: a card-swipe access restriction to residents only and a staff of residential advisers and professionals who keep an eye out for any abnormalities.
For Ashley, these systems are good, but they aren't enough.
"I think that really helps. But no matter how much we try to prevent crime, people are people and they will find a way," he said. "Just keep an eye out for anything strange. It's the best way to stay safe. I mean it saved my life and someday it might save yours."
Since the Virginia Tech shooting, the university has taken new measures to improve the safety of the campus. On Friday, a campus-wide e-mail asked students to update their Emergency Contact information and add their cell phone numbers. In the event of an emergency, a voicemail will be left on cell phones, in addition to a bulk e-mail and Web site updates.
General information about SMUs emergency procedures is available at http://www.smu.edu/newsinfo/preparedness/.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/25/News/High-Crime.A.Concern.For.Dorm.Residents-2879050.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 25, 2007</a>
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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High crime a concern for dorm residents
southern methodist university
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/w42xi3ap_859cc0d795.jpg
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2007-08-24
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2007-08-24 15:54:03
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Sara AA Hood
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Christina Parrish
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2007-08-24
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Media Credit: Christina Parrish
Members of the SMU community came together for a prayer service for those who were lost in Monday's Virginia Tech massacre. The service was to be held outside at the Flagpole but was moved inside due to inclement weather.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/18/News/Remembering.The.Fallen-2848543.shtml>SMU Campus Daily - April 18, 2007</a>
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eng
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SMU Daily Campus
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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Remembering the Fallen
southern methodist university
-
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Sara AA Hood
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Emily Sears
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2007-08-24
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By: Emily Sears, Contributing Writer, esears@smu.edu
Posted: 4/19/07
Pat McDonald is an atheist. The junior anthropology major was raised Catholic but reconsidered his religion his freshman year at SMU when he became familiar with Zen Buddhism and atheism.
"It surprised me because I never had considered atheism before. Atheism is a scary idea to me, because it seemed so dark and dreary," he said.
McDonald represents only a small percentage of Americans today.
A recent Newsweek poll shows that 91 percent of Americans believe in God, and of the nine percent who don't, only three percent consider themselves atheists.
SMU, unsurprisingly, has about 20 religious or spiritual organizations on campus ranging from Christian to Hindu to Pagan. The university, associated with the Methodist church, turns to prayer in the face of tragedy. Students, faculty and staff united at Hughes-Trigg Student Center recently to pray for the victims of the Virginia Tech mass killings. Crosses were placed in the main quad in memory of the massacred victims.
Dr. Jill DeTemple, an SMU professor of religious studies, says the number of Americans who believe in God does not surprise her. In fact, she thinks the percentage would increase if the poll had asked about belief in a higher power rather than God, which would then include many Buddhists and Hindus.
"Technically Buddhism is an atheistic religion," she said.
DeTemple says it's becoming popular again to be religious. In the '50s it was expected, in the '70s it was unpopular, and now, she says, it's once again the norm.
"I do think religion has a more public place than it did a few years ago," she said.
DeTemple said openly religious political leaders became popular with Jimmy Carter.
"Since then we've expected public leaders to be religious."
Emily Worland, a Roman Catholic and SMU sophomore economics major, says her religion has an impact on her political views.
"Through Catholicism I believe that everyone is equal, so I follow liberal principles," she said.
A political candidate's religion matters to the voting public, according to the poll. It showed that 68 percent of Americans believe a person can be an atheist and a moral person, but only 29 percent would vote for a candidate who publicly claimed he or she was an atheist.
"I think morality is more of a social norm than a religious following," Worland said.
But President George W. Bush's religious beliefs - he is a devout Christian - can't save him from disapproval. According to the Newsweek poll, only 28 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country. Sixty-six percent are unsatisfied and six percent don't know.
Christian Daw, an SMU English major, thinks many people believe in God because of the culture Americans live in.
"I feel a lot of people equate God and love and goodness, and they think that if they believe in goodness and what is right, then they believe in God." He said his parents have this mentality, but their beliefs don't impact their daily lives.
But Daw, a senior, is a practicing Christian, and his beliefs do influence his daily life.
"I think in order to lead the most fulfilling life, God needs to be a part of your everyday decisions," he said.
It seems many people turn to science to prove or disprove the existence of God. In "God: The Failed Hypothesis," author and physicist Victor J. Stenger used the existence of God as a hypothesis, putting the idea through a series of scientific studies. He eventually determined that God does not exist and the belief has actually made humankind worse off.
"The certainty and exclusiveness of the major monotheisms make tolerances of differences very difficult to achieve, and these differences are the major source of conflict," he wrote.
Lee Strobel, a graduate of Yale Law School and former legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune, also set out on an investigation to disprove God and the belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. His findings, chronicled in his book "The Case for Christ," changed him from an atheist to a pastor. He used eyewitness, documentary, scientific, psychological and even fingerprint evidence in his research.
"The atheism I had embraced for so long buckled under the weight of historical truth," Strobel wrote.
McDonald, the atheist, says he is waiting for proof of God, and he's open to the possibility of God's existence. He also understands why people are religious - it gives life meaning and in his view prevents social chaos.
"This world can seem very boring, and it feels good to believe in God. It helps make every problem into a challenge, every ordeal into a test," he said.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/19/News/God-Isnt.Dead.In.America-2852191.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 19, 2007</a>
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eng
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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God isn't dead in America
southern methodist university
-
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Sara Hood
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George Henson
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2007-08-24
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By: George Henson, ghenson@smu.edu
Posted: 4/26/07
No matter how much we try to make sense out of the horrific events of Monday, April 16, we can't.
Last Wednesday, under the guise of news reporting, NBC pimped the "manifesto" and video that the Virginia Tech assassin FedEx-ed the network during the two-hour gap between the first and second shootings.
"The Today Show" last Thursday morning hyped the same video footage, feigning that journalistic imperative outweighed tabloid sensationalism. For all intents and purposes, the morning infotainment show was co-hosted by a deranged murderer.
It was journalistic pornography. Sideshow journalism. Capitalism. I don't know who's worse-them or us. The pornographers or those of us who consume their pornography. To their credit, the students of Virginia Tech ordered all media off their campus by Monday.
The question still remains: do we really want to allow a for-profit infotainment corporation to be the voice of our national conscience?
Throughout history, poets have given a voice to the tragic events that marked the time in which they lived. In 1865, Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd" gave voice to the assassination of President Lincoln. In 1922, the American modernist poet T.S. Eliot published "The Waste Land," gave voice to the chaos following World War I, the irrationality of modern society, the age-old theme of the universe in chaos.
That's how many have felt during the last week.
The first three lines of the first canto, "The Burial of the Dead," read, "April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain."
Those lines are especially poignant now - in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. If you've never read the poem, it's worth a read. Don't worry if you find the language difficult or the references obscure, let the imagery speak to you. You'll be surprised how much clarity - context - the poem will lend to the horrific murders.
April, it turns out, has truly been a cruel month in our nation's history: On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumpter, South Carolina, igniting a civil war that tore apart the fabric of our country and killed over 600,000 Americans. Four years and two days later, on April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.
In fact, when Eliot wrote that "April is the cruelest month," he was referencing, at least tangentially, the assassination of President Lincoln. Eliot understood the paradox of death in April, a month that normally symbolizes hope and the renewal of life.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
On April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed, killing 168 men, women and children. Two years earlier, to the day, the FBI siege of the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco resulted in the deaths of an estimated 79 people. Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing, said that the Waco siege was a motive for the bombing.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold slaughtered 12 students and one teacher and wounded 24 others at Columbine High School in a Denver suburb. Virginia Tech's assassin mentioned Columbine in his manifesto.
President Bush, mourner-in-chief and master of platitudes, attended a memorial service on Tuesday at Virginia Tech - but not before reaffirming his belief in the "right to bear arms."
I can't be the only person who sees the perverseness in his rush to defend the assassin's right to buy the guns that killed 32 innocent people.
Amid the personal mourning, Bush and other Second-Amendment supporters want us to chalk up last week's mass killings to the inevitable price of democracy. What an absurd distortion of truth!
What point have we reached when we allow a president to minimize the preventable deaths of 32 people by blithely reducing the events to "[t]hey were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time"? Spare us your absurdist reductionism.
No, Mr. President, they were exactly where they were supposed to be - in class.
Surely someone else sees the hypocrisy in the manufactured shock that a 23-year-old with a history of mental illness is allowed to buy two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition that he uses to massacre 32 innocent people.
Surely someone else sees the insanity in allowing someone - mentally ill or sane - to buy a 9mm Glock with the same ease and casualness with which a 10-year-old buys a Slurpee.
It may be years before anyone is able to find meaning in the chaos of April 16. That meaning won't come from politicians or pundits. It will come from the next Eliot. Perhaps that will be you.
Until then, all we can do is console ourselves, as Eliot wrote, with "the murmur of maternal lamentation."
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/26/Opinion/April.Is.The.Cruelest.Month-2881930.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 24, 2007</a>
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eng
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SMU Daily Campus
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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April is the cruelest month
southern methodist university
-
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Sara Hood
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Hae Min Sung
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2007-08-24
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By: Hae Min Sung, Contributing Writer
Posted: 4/24/07
There was a Virginia Tech Massacre. Everyone was horrified. The killer committed suicide in the end, but he had already killed 32 people. Whenever I turned on the television, I saw the killer's face, and I watched the video clips the killer sent to NBC.
I am a Korean. And at some point, I wish that I could speak some Japanese or Chinese so that I wouldn 't have to admit it. That doesn't mean that I don't want to be a Korean or I hate my nationality. But for now, I really don't want to face.
When I heard the killer was a Korean, I didn't want to believe it. Korea is a peaceful nation, and we don't do that kind of terrible thing, I thought.
I didn't do it, but I am so ashamed as a Korean. He just ruined my country's name. There was a cherish ceremony in Los Angeles' Korea town right after the massacre was broadcasted. Some people say it's an overreaction that Korean people blame themselves, so much so that many Americans scoff at Koreans. Unlike America, Korea is a nation of collectivism. Nation, society and groups come first, then individuals. That is why people are ashamed themselves as parents, as students and as Koreans. It is not only the killer's problem, but also Koreans'.
I don't know what to say to those victims' families and to Americans. I cannot say anything but "I'm sorry." Whenever people talk about the massacre, I really want to leave. Wherever I go, I feel like people see me in anger because I am Korean, even though I know that they really don't know whether I am or not.
At some point, I am scared that people might hate me because I am a Korean. At another point, I am scared that people might hit me or say something because I am a Korean. I don't think that American people are that irrational to hit somebody only because they have the same nationality that killer has. But I am afraid because as a Korean, I am ashamed of myself.
The killer said that the society made him like that and he didn't have any choice. He thought everyone hated him and treated him wrong, and he wouldn't run away from people and society anymore.
I don't want to say something bad to a person who has the same nationality as I do. But the killer was a psycho, and his way to face "the enemy" was definitely wrong.
Why are other people the enemy, and why does he think society is treating him wrong? What's he running from, and why does he have no choice but to kill people? What's wrong with this guy??!! I am so confused. I am so angry at him and feel so sorry for the victims, victims' family and everyone, but at the same time, I felt so bad for him as a Korean.
If he were not a Korean, I think, I might not feel this confusion; instead I'd just blame the murderer and feel bad for people involved in the massacre.
I wish that he were not a Korean. But he is; I cannot change that. I cannot change anything. I cannot do anything for the victims, their family and for people. I just can say I am so sorry.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/24/Opinion/Korean.Feelings.On.Virginia.Tech.Massacre-2876142.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 24, 2007</a>
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SMU Daily Campus
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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Korean feelings on Virginia Tech massacre
southern methodist university
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Sara Hood
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Mark Norris
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2007-08-24
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By: Mark Norris, Editor In Chief, mnorris@smu.edu
Posted: 4/25/07
A message scrawled on the back of a desk chair by an unknown person has prompted an investigation by SMU Police. The note says "I'm going to shoot up SMU on 8-06-07."
The message was discovered Monday but was not reported to SMU Police until Tuesday morning. Authorities promptly responded, said Interim Police Chief Richard Shafer.
"We have no leads and don't know who did it or why," Shafer said.
The threat was discovered in Room 111 of Hyer Hall some time Monday. The professor of the class that meets there at that time reported the message to SMU Police. The message was written in pencil and still "looks fairly fresh," according to police.
Shafer said the date of the threat is odd since classes are not in session at the time. The Summer II session is completed by then and the 2007-2008 school year has not begun yet.
Police are looking at what classes meet in the room to determine if any names of interest appear on the class rosters.
Shafer said the person who wrote the message probably has a warped sense of humor.
"We don't think it's a viable or credible threat, but you never know," he said. The police investigation into the matter is still ongoing.
This is the first threat made at the SMU community after the shootings at Virginia Tech.
"Three weeks ago they probably wouldn't have thought about it," Shafer said. He said the police department is glad that the professor and students took the time to report the threat. He encouraged members of the SMU community to report anything they believe is suspicious.
"Give us a call and someone will look into it," Shafer said.
This story is exclusive to 'The Daily Campus.' Mention of this story by other media organizations must credit the paper.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/25/News/Threat.Scrawled.On.Desk.Chair.Found.In.Hyer.Hall-2879053.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 25, 2007</a>
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eng
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SMU Daily Campus
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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Threat scrawled on desk chair found in Hyer Hall
southern methodist university
-
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
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Sara AA Hood
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Mark Norris
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2007-08-24
Description
An account of the resource
By: Mark Norris, Editor In Chief, mnorris@smu.edu
Posted: 4/17/07
SMU officials say they are prepared if an incident like the one at Virginia Tech happens here. As recently as December 2006 an active shooter scenario exercise was held according to Lee Arning, the director of emergency preparedness and business continuity.
But the shootings at the Blacksburg, Va., campus have changed things.
"Today's event has rewritten the rulebook," Arning said in an interview Monday evening.
A gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in United States history. The victims were massacred in two attacks two hours apart on opposite sides of the school's campus, with Tech's police force unable to warn anyone before the carnage ensued. It ended with the gunman committing suicide - making the final death toll 33.
Arning said he would attend a meeting Tuesday morning with other administrators to discuss the incident and its ramifications for the SMU community.
At SMU, in the event of such an incident, the building managers would be responsible for either locking down their buildings or taking other measures necessary to keep its occupants safe according to Arning. They could also pass along information through a network of people within each building.
The next wave of communication would come electronically: via e-mail, the official university Web site and phone tree messages. Any messages could also be announced on an intercom system; however, there is not a central intercom system and not every building on campus has one to begin with.
One thing that will not happen, Arning said, is police officers driving around the campus notifying people over speakers or bullhorns. He said that would make the police cars and officers targets.
SMU has emergency "Lockdown/Take Cover" guidelines that Arning said he discusses during the annual campus fire drills at buildings.
The guidelines say if a person perceives a threat of violence to dial 911 immediately or call SMU police at (214) 768-3333. It adds that evacuation alarms should not be sounded.
It says to close, lock and barricade doors to reduce the potential risk of a violent person reaching the area where people are. The guidelines say the best way to secure oneself is by not moving around, crouching down and either getting out of sight or getting low on the floor. It says to remain silent because studies have shown that shooters will fire at things that move or make sounds. The guidelines also say to be prepared to remain in a lockdown state for an extended period of time.
It will be safe to leave only when police on the scene gives an "all clear" message.
"Your safety is dependent on compliance that may be uncomfortable for a little while," Arning said.
Some Virginia Tech students told media outlets that the school failed to properly notify them of what was occurring and also accused the school of acting irresponsibly by not closing down the campus after the first shooting.
Arning said if there were a similar incident at SMU, the school would err on the side of caution and shut down the campus.
He said SMU PD, which would be the first responders to any incident on campus, has attended multi-day response training camps and would be ready for such events. Arning said it is likely SMU PD will go through more training after the events at Virginia Tech.
"Their training is a strong part of their job," Arning said.
The active shooter exercise held in December 2006 is another part of that training.
Representatives of Highland Park PD, University Park PD, Dallas SWAT and SMU PD attended along with UP public affairs, SMU emergency management and public affairs.
Arning said the scenario was based on research of previous incidents and allowed the different groups to have an idea of what it would be like to work together. At various points during the scenario, the group would stop and each agency would discuss what they would be doing at that point and how they could do their job better.
"Everything is critically integrated," Arning said.
After the scenario concluded the agencies discussed opportunities for improvement. Arning said the exercise was not the first one for the school, and credited SMU for continuing to refine its response to different events.
He said meetings and discussions occurred twice already this semester in response to the incident at the Laura Lee Blanton Building with the suspicious envelope that wound up containing cooking powder and the meningitis infection that was on campus shortly before Spring Break.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/17/News/Smu-Says.Its.Ready.For.Campus.Emergencies-2845885.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 18, 2007</a>
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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SMU says it's ready for campus emergencies
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2007-08-24
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By: Carey Elizabeth White, Contributing Writer, cwhite@smu.edu
Posted: 4/18/07
Student Senate held a moment of silence for the victims and families of the Virginia Tech shooting and discussed campus safety yesterday in the second to last meeting of the semester.
Senators discussed the need to increase awareness of safety procedures in addition to voicing their support of those affected by the Virginia Tech tragedy. One senator was concerned that no one knew the correct procedures for when the tornado sirens sounded last week. Senate agreed that more concrete legislation needs to be enacted to assure the safety of the students and our campus.
Student Body President Taylor Russ said, "The first thing in our minds is survival," adding that, "We really do need an effective crisis management policy, because nothing in my mind outweighs the loss of a life."
The current emergency preparedness plan can be found at smu.edu/newsinfo. The Senate hopes to help create a more effective policy for fall 2007.
Later in the meeting, the League of United Latin American Citizens, otherwise known as LULAC, presented its case to be chartered as an organization on the SMU campus. The league advocates civil rights, supports leadership skills and provides scholarship funds to Hispanic educational communities. Several universities around the area charter this national organization. Universities like TCU, UT, UNT and TWU each have LULAC as a campus organization.
Additionally, the executive committee ruled on the David Mingus Open Meetings Act. The act will create more transparency within Student Senate, making standing committees open at all times to all Senators and officers of the Student Senate, space permitting. The act was passed.
The last Student Senate meeting of the year will be held next week on April 24.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/18/News/Senate.Acknowledges.Virginia.Tech.Shooting-2848555.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 18, 2007</a>
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Senate acknowledges Virginia Tech shooting
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The Daily Campus Ed Board
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2007-08-24
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<b>The media are once again turning into the public's whipping boys</b>
By: The Daily Campus Ed Board
Posted: 4/20/07
The nation is still focused on Blacksburg, Va. as all Americans honor the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings.
But as the initial shock wears off, news organizations need to be weary of hyping a story that doesn't need the standard cable news sensationalism.
This story has been sent across the globe since it occurred at the beginning of the week. People in Australia, London, India, South Korea and more are all discussing the matter.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun offered condolences to victims for a third time and, among the South Korean public, a sense of despair prevailed.
"I and our people cannot contain our feelings of huge shock and grief," said President Roh Moo-hyun. "I pray for the souls of those killed and offer words of comfort from my heart for those injured, the bereaved families and the U.S. people."
Hundreds left messages on the country's top Web site, Naver.
"I'm too shameful that I'm a South Korean," wrote an Internet user identified only by the ID iknijmik. "As a South Korean, I feel apologetic to the Virginia Tech victims."
Ed Board understands that the Koreans are apologizing for Seung-Hiu because they do not want any race-related retaliation to occur. Asian-American groups have released similar statements for the same reason.
But this is an angle of the story not worth the time devoted to it. There have been no retributions and there is no need for the Korean peninsula to apologize for a killer. Seung-Hiu wasn't acting on behalf of his country, he was only carrying out his personal desires.
Not to mention the flap about NBC's airing of the controversial video made by the killer.
As (amateur) members of the media, we appreciate that the network has to walk a careful line between letting people know the whole truth and not offending its viewership.
We know that many don't want to pay the killer attention.
But we also know that the families who want to see the man who killed their children have a right to do so.
We know that after an event like this, people have a driving desire to understand why.
Even though there's never going to be a definitive answer, the media have an obligation to report on as much of what happened as possible.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/20/Opinion/Time-For.The.Second.Guessing-2870603.shtml>SMU Daily Press - April 20, 2007</a>
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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Time for the second guessing
southern methodist university
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2007-08-24
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By: The Daily Campus Ed Board
Posted: 4/17/07
The worst recorded shooting spree in American history occurred on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va., yesterday. Thirty-three people were murdered, dozens suffered injuries and the entire campus now must deal with grief. How does someone begin to digest the incomprehensible evil exhibited by this shooter and the needless loss of innocent lives?
Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the entire Virginia Tech community. This is the natural reaction people should have. We were shocked when we saw how politicians, such as John McCain, a Bush administration spokesperson and the media turned this event into a discussion about the right to bear arms. Political policy should not be a part of the discourse and coverage of the massacre at this early stage. It is entirely inappropriate to even mention political policy right now, when families are still being notified of their relatives' deaths.
This is a time for mourning, not campaigning.
If people need something to talk about, rather than just trying to cope, the discussion should be about why officials took two hours to close down the campus after the first shooting in the dorm. When a murder-suicide occurred at the University of Washington April 2, the entire campus was locked down. Rather than close down the entire campus immediately, Virginia Tech officials did not give students elsewhere on campus any information or warning for two hours. By this time, the gunman had closed off the exits to the engineering building and had begun his killing spree.
Furthermore, students were first notified via e-mail about the incident. Ed Board does not think e-mail communication is sufficient for such a drastically dangerous event. Police should have been in every building within minutes of the dorm shooting, going into classrooms and locking down the campus.
We wonder how officials here at SMU would react to such an event and hope that they would take better precautionary measures, leaving nothing to chance. In such cases, it's better to overreact than to sit by and do nothing. However, in SMU's emergency "Lockdown/Take Cover" guidelines, there is no indication of what officials, such as the SMU police, would do to protect students. The plan states that, in such an event, "emergency alarms should not be sounded" (dare they draw attention to the police instead of those in classrooms) and that information would be relayed via "e-mail, phone calls or word of mouth."
Ed Board does not believe that this is an adequate means to alert the campus. A better solution would be to install a silent alarm system throughout campus, where flashing lights could indicate that something is wrong.
Once again, we are shocked and saddened by this tragedy, and we encourage students to show their support by attending the prayer vigil at the Flagpole at 1:15 p.m. today.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/04/17/Opinion/The-Virginia.Tech.Massacre-2845464.shtml>SMU Daily Campus - April 17, 2007</a>
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"Norris, Mark William" <mnorris@mail.smu.edu>
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The Virginia Tech massacre: Ed Board doesn't agree with the crisis policy or the media coverage
southern methodist university