Virginia Tech shooter identified
description: UC Davis to hold candlelight vigils to honor victims By: Talia Kennedy Posted: 4/20/07 The gunman who shot and killed 32 students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on Monday was identified this week as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior English student at the university. On Wednesday, NBC News reported receiving videos and a letter from Cho, sent between the time Cho shot and killed two students in an on-campus residence hall Monday morning and when he gunned down 30 more people before turning his weapon on himself. "You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience," said Cho in one video, in which he is shown brandishing firearms, a hammer and other weapons. "Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people. "You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off," he said. Published reports have said Cho was receiving mental-health services, but that they were not provided by Virginia Tech. He was also accused of making unwanted phone calls and sending unwanted instant messages to two fellow students in 2005, but both declined to press charges. A professor said he made students in her class uncomfortable with his violently themed writing and by taking photographs of female students from under the desks in the classroom. A counselor once recommended Cho be committed to a mental-health facility on an involuntary basis, but a judge denied the request, saying Cho was not a danger to himself or others. In the aftermath of the shootings, universities across the country have scheduled prayer vigils to honor the fallen Virginia Tech students and faculty members. The Cal Aggie Christian Association held a prayer vigil on campus Wednesday to honor the Virginia Tech victims, and two more services are scheduled for today. The UC Davis student assistants to the chancellor, Hayley Steffen and Alfredo Arredondo…
creator: Talia Kennedy
publisher: The California Aggie
date: 2007-08-23
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Eddie Lee <editor@californiaaggie.com>
language: eng

Virginia Tech shooting a sign for contemplation and change
description: By: Posted: 4/23/07 Last week was one of tragedy as schools and universities across the United States faced the terror of threats of bombs and shootings on their campuses. The events of April 16 have brought the issues of gun control, freedom, mental health and emergency preparedness to the forefront of the news and our minds. But no one suffered more than the students, teachers, family and friends affected directly by the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16. For all of those with connections to Virginia Tech who are grieving from the tragedy, we'd like to express our sincere condolences. We'd also like to commend everyone who has given University of Nebraska-Lincoln students, faculty and staff members opportunities to contemplate. We've been impressed by the outpouring of compassion that occurred on the UNL campus in many forms: signs, cards and candlelight vigils. But Friday's events on the UNL campus put a damper upon the solemn nature of the week. Like dozens of other college campuses around the country, UNL endured its own copycat scenario on Friday, the anniversary of the Columbine shootings in Colorado. We can't fathom what would motivate a person to say a bomb was planted in the College of Engineering - or anywhere else for that matter. Early Friday afternoon, a man called the dean's office claiming he planted a bomb in the engineering college. Othmer and Nebraska halls and the Walter Scott Engineering Center were subsequently evacuated and closed while police searched the building. The terrorist threat led to the cancellation of the engineering college's recruitment day, for which some prospective UNL students traveled hundreds of miles to attend. It also fostered a sense of fear that had already emerged for some on campus who realized the Virginia Tech shootings could have happened anywhere, even here. Luckily, the threat was an empty one, as were the dozens of other threats that shut down college and high school campuses across the country last week. Not t…
creator: Anonymous
publisher: Daily Nebraskan
date: 2007-09-03
contributor: Sara AA Hood
rights: Josh Swartzlander <jdwriter19@yahoo.com>
language: eng

Virginia Tech shootings Bring Out Stereotypes
description: April 24, 2007 It was pointed out to me the other night that I'm a living, breathing embodiment of the stereotypical quiet Asian. I was among a few friends and some friends of friends in the bar at AT&T Park prior to a San Francisco Giants game. I was the only Asian American male in the group, but there was a loud, gregarious Asian American woman. The two Asians in the group seemed to be polar opposites, something that was apparent to everyone at the bar. I've been thinking about expectations and stereotypes since news broke that the gunman in the Virginia Tech killings was Korean American. My evening at the bar made me ponder it some more. Everyone else was more than a few drinks ahead of me, and I had driven to the ballpark, so I was nursing a beer. I was also concentrating on the game, which had started and was being shown on the bar's TVs, though this is no excuse for being withdrawn when among friends, and even friends of friends. It didn't go unnoticed by the others, who gave me a few jabs about being so quiet and that I should "keep it down." It was also very apparent that Unusually Loud Asian Woman, who I didn't know, was no quiet Asian. So much so that I was told to stand next to her so "osmosis" would quiet her down. After taking a place next to Unusually Loud Asian Woman and seemingly calming her down, a Friend and Friend of Friend asked me, "have you ever met a Chinese woman who's like this?" So on the one hand, I'm quiet so I'm Walking Stereotype, but on the other hand, Unusually Loud Asian Woman is just having a good time at a bar, but there seems to be something out of place with that as well. The comments and events I describe were all in good fun. We're all aware of our differences and perceived differences. It's what you do with that knowledge that can cause problems. There was no malice that night. I did start thinking more about stereotypes afterward. Reading Jeff Yang's analysis of Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho's race in Salon.com gave me …
creator: Harry Mok
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0
language: eng

Virginia Tech shootings create media ethics debate
description: Jeff Vrabel / GateHouse Media Thu Apr 19, 2007, 05:01 PM CDT BLACKSBURG, VA - Regular readers of this column - and hello to all three of you - know that, when appropriate, partially appropriate, tangentially connected or carries the very slight possibility of being funny to someone somewhere, I have no problem resorting to remarks of questionable taste. Sometimes, if I can and my editors agree, I can slip a colorful adjective in there or two. When it comes to matters of obscenity and the maintenance of high culture, a conservative prude I am not. But something about being unable to avoid pictures of Cho Seung-Hui pointing a gun at me Thursday was more nauseatingly loathsome than I might have even expected. People with lengthier titles and livelier paychecks than mine will by now have spent hours and days debating the judiciousness of using the pictures of a killer doing what he did when he executed more than 30 people on Monday, pointing the gun at me, at you, at himself, at whatever purported demons he'd invented. He did so on purpose, doing it with the intent to enrage after his death. With astonishing clarity, Cho's package to NBC News proved, over all else, that this was not a random bout of insanity, a snap. This was as premeditated a rampage as one could enact; one wouldn't be surprised if investigators soon discover a map and a set of blueprints. I'm not here to debate the news value, and were I sitting in the newsroom at NBC News when that package came in, I - nor any of you - have any idea how I would have reacted. But it feels an awful, awful lot like serving a black-hearted killer a drink at the bar and asking if he'd like to keep the bottle for free. This is what he wanted. This is what he's getting. There wasn't much chance that anything else would happen, really. Hopefully, at least some percentage of the country's 6 million pundits-posing-as-journalists will at least begin addressing the question of how much of the decision to run these photos was fue…
creator: Jeff Vrabel
date: 2007-05-31
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
language: eng

Virginia Tech shootings shake the country
description: By Nicole Haley/Daily News staff GHS Tue Apr 17, 2007, 01:04 AM EDT NO DATA - The news seemed surreal for anyone who turned on the television yesterday. Even anchors on the major news networks reported asking law enforcement officials to repeat themselves, unable to believe what they were being told. But for Waltham native Marcus Ly, the shootings on Virginia Tech's campus 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. "But it's just a lot of confusion, they don't really know anything more than we do reading the headlines." Speaking by phone yesterday from Minneapolis, Ly said he was in shock. A gunman killed 32 people on the campus and then took his own life, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. A 1995 Waltham High School graduate, Ly finished a graduate school program in industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech last winter. He was a representative on the university's Board of Visitors and worked closely with the president and higher levels of administration. "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. Ly said Blacksburg was on of the safest communities he has ever lived in. Around 7:15 a.m. yesterday, the first shot rang out in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed dormitory. The gunfire resumed two hours later at Norris Hall, the engineering science and mechanics building, where most of the fatalities occurred, according to Associated Press reports. "It's more shocking than Columbine," Ly said, referring to the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo. Two teenagers killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 24 more before the shooters committed suicide. Like many others watching the events unfold from home, Ly saw the video streamed on cnn.com and shown repeatedly on television, recorded by a Virginia Tech st…
creator: Elva Orozco
date: 2007-07-17
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
language: eng

Virginia Tech students react
description: In wake of tragedy, students reflect on shootings that rocked community, describe "fearful environment" Jordan Dods and Courtney Kessler, Cavalier Daily Associate Editors Only in her worst nightmares could Nicole Shyti have anticipated the carnage transpiring as she slept on the fifth floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory yesterday morning. One floor beneath her, two Virginia Tech students had been murdered by a gunman who was still at large. It wasn't until 9:30 a.m., when a friend called her to make sure she was safe, that she learned about the killings. Shyti said she heard the sounds of siren after siren outside her dorm room. It was at that point, she said, that she knew something serious had happened. "I saw people running across the lawn outside, and it was just a lot of commotion," Shyti said. The shootings, which eventually left 33 dead, instantly transformed the Virginia Tech campus into a worldwide epicenter of tragedy and confusion. The campus was left nearly deserted as the university went on lockdown. An impromptu vigil on the Drill Field yesterday evening captured the intensity of emotion. Students locked arms -- some crying -- still waiting to find out whether friends had made it out alive. Virginia Tech student George Lane-Roberts said the rapid escalation of casualties left him "dumbfounded and shocked." As students spent the day within the familiar walls of their dorms, press outlets from around the world descended on Blacksburg to report the greatest tragedy to hit an American college campus. That blanket of media coverage provided many Tech students, hunkered around televisions, with their primary window into the events of the day. Tech student Joseph Chapman said he first found out about the shootings on TV before reading official e-mails from the university. Some have criticized Tech's response to the initial shooting as too little too late, saying that an earlier lockdown of campus could have prevented 30 deaths. The initial e-mail from the…
creator: Jordan Dods and Courtney Kessler
publisher: The Cavalier Daily
date: 2007-07-31
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Meggie Bonner <meggiebonner@gmail.com>
language: eng

Virginia Tech to dedicate April 16 Memorial on Sunday, August 19
description: By Mark Owczarski BLACKSBURG, Va., August 15, 2007 -- To coincide with the start of the new academic year, Virginia Tech will dedicate the memorial to the victims of April 16 on Sunday, August 19 at noon. At the conclusion of the approximately 30-minute ceremony, President Charles W. Steger will dedicate the new memorial site. All members of the Virginia Tech community and general public are welcome to attend. Those visiting campus for the memorial service are encouraged to park their vehicles in the parking lots located on Perry Street. While limited visitor and handicap parking spaces are available around the Drillfield, no parking will be available on the Drillfield Several water stations will be set up on the Drillfield to accommodate guests in anticipation of the warm weather. Grief counselors will also be present in the event guests seek that assistance. The dedication ceremony will be broadcast live on WDBJ-TV Channel 7 (campus cable channel 7) and can be seen in real time on the university homepage. The ceremony will begin with the presentation of colors by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets followed by the playing of the National Anthem by the Highty-Tighties, the corps' marching band. Vice President of Student Affairs Zenobia Hikes will follow with opening remarks. Speaking after her will be Adeel Khan, a junior majoring in accounting in the Pamplin College of Business and president of the (undergraduate) Student Government Association; and Joe McFadden, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Dairy Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and president of the Graduate Student Assembly. Valerie Hardcastle, professor of science and technology in society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and president of the Faculty Senate, will follow the student leaders with remarks. Scott Cheatham, a May graduate of Virginia Tech and now a graduate student in mathematics education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, will foll…
creator: Mark Owczarski
date: 2007-11-20
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

Virginia Tech tragedy continues to hit home
description: By Messenger Post and wire reports Posted: Apr 18, 01:00 PM EDT On a campus proud of its unity, the gunman's anger and detachment alarmed those around him. While parents of a 2004 Irondequoit High School graduate learned their son escaped harm in the Virginia Tech massacre Monday, another relative of a Virginia Tech student is mourning the death of her niece. Virginia Tech students and supporters lifted thousands of candles to a sapphire sky Tuesday to remember the 32 people killed by a campus gunman. The vigil testified to the unity on which the mountain campus prides itself. But in the hours after Cho Seung-Hui's rampage, it was obvious the close-knit school was a community of which he never felt a part. The gunman, who turned his gun on himself after carrying out the worst shooting massacre in modern U.S. history, was a sullen loner who left a rambling note raging against women and rich kids. News reports said that Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic. Professors and classmates were alarmed by his class writings — pages filled with twisted, violence-drenched writing. In screenplays he wrote for a class last fall, characters throw hammers and attack with chainsaws, said a student who attended Virginia Tech last fall. In another, Cho concocted a tale of students who fantasize about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them. Despite the many warning signs that came to light in the bloody aftermath, police and university officials offered no clues as to exactly what set Cho off on the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. Among those killed in the massacre at Virginia Tech was 19-year-old freshman Mary Read, who had multiple ties to the greater Rochester area. Read spent summers in the Finger Lakes region, visiting relatives who included her aunt, Mary Courtney. Courtney was interviewed Monday from her Palmyra home by NBC (…
creator: Messenger Post (Rochester, NY)
date: 2007-07-17
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
language: eng

Virginia Tech tragedy unites VU community
description: by Joan Brasher News of the events of April 16, 2007 - a violent shooting on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va., that resulted in the deaths of 33 students and faculty members - sent chills down the spines of all within earshot of a television, radio or the Internet. University students, faculty and staff across the nation and the world watched the media coverage in stunned silence, as the death toll escalated and the convoluted details slowly became clear. For many students, the first reaction to the shocking event was fear, said Vanderbilt Student Government Association President Cara Bilotta, a junior. "As you watch the tragedy unfold on TV, you cannot help but think, 'Could this happen here?'" Bilotta said. "Your initial reaction is fear of the unknown. The question is, could any university really prevent an incident like Virginia Tech? The good news is that Vanderbilt has always taken a proactive approach to security." University communities nationwide, even those with no direct relationship to the victims, were hard hit, and campus administrators quickly convened not only to reach out to Virginia Tech's faculty, staff and students, but to re-evaluate crisis preparedness on their respective campuses. Chancellor Gordon Gee communicated with the Vanderbilt community via e-mail shortly after the shooting, stating, "Words fail to encompass a calamity of such magnitude. At this raw stage, we can offer our attention, our consideration and our sympathy. We respond with the best part of ourselves." He encouraged students to take advantage of the university's psychological counseling services, seek out religious life groups or turn to resident advisers for support. All Faiths Chapel on the first floor of Vanderbilt Divinity School was made available for reflection, meditation and prayer. Two days after the shooting, a candlelight vigil was held at Benton Chapel. Vanderbilt chaplains, as well as representatives from Tennessee State University, Belmont University…
creator: Joan Brasher
date: 2007-07-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Joan Brasher <joan.brasher@vanderbilt.edu>
language: eng

Virginia Tech Tragedy: A Revealing Sociological Tome
description: about 1 month ago by Nate Brugnone The recent shootings at Virginia Tech are not only a tragedy at face-value, they are also a revealing tragedy on many social levels. As this story broke almost every headline across the US, and no doubt throughout much of the world, it's become apparent to me how much journalism today resembles a botch theatrical moral auction. It's a "who can draw the most hits using the most visceral, emotive attractor" competition. First come the alligators of the shallow, murky riverbanks. These are the fat lizard spawn of necessary 24-hour news corporations -- the ones with catlike reflexes and the largest paychecks. They're bug-eyes keep a most sentinel vigil over "normalcy" amongst the crowd. Even the slightest ripple caused by a ubiquitous herbivore hoof could spell a ratings spike and a big payoff. And I'm not just going to roll over here and give them the credit of, "[in a whiny, airy Bob Saget voice] well, they just want to get us the news we need to know about. They're looking out for us." If that's the case, then I'm severely deluded as to the nature of mass media in the US and Rupert Murdock (or whomever) has a proportional messiah-complex. We know, at least considering the second statement, that this is untrue. Covering the rest of Noah's Ark here, we come to the wolves in peacocks' feathers -- the journalists who find it necessary to employ visual aids, as if the headline, "33 College Students Slaughtered in Largest Killing Spree in US History," doesn't tweak tightly enough the heart muscles and gray matter of the soon-to-be-touched-upon emotional-parasites. "Here's a picture a bloodied boy barely clinging to life as he is carried out by fellow scholars." Blah blah blah... on & on. Then in come the dumpster-diving raccoon collage artists, riding the coattails of those before, pasting, quoting other papers, quoting bloggers (dah!), in hopes of making a few more bucks. These things smell and are super lazy. Just look at the abundance …
creator: Nate Brugnone
date: 2007-06-02
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States
language: eng

Virginia Tech Tragedy: Human Nature & Networks
description: By Aaron Mannes While the Virginia Tech tragedy has spawned the predictable media frenzy, there has - so far - been an admirable lack of speculation about the killer, his motives, or what this event says about American society. Leftist philosopher Herbert Marcuse once observed, "Not every problem someone has with his girlfriend is necessarily due to the capitalist mode of production." Humans are complicated and there are dark places in the human soul that will emerge. Sometimes ideologies and causes will spark these evil inclinations. But they exist and have emerged in every time and place. Knowing that tragedies are part of the human experience - whether from natural or man-made causes - it is essential to take proper steps to ameliorate their impact. Dwight Eisenhower once observed, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." Predicting the exact shape of the next tragedy is rarely possible. But the processes of preparing for some kinds of disasters and attacks will help develop the systems and habits necessary to respond to whatever fate throws. Lives were saved on 9/11 because some WTC tenants had consistently practiced evacuation techniques in the wake of the 1993 bombing. University Presidents are akin to mayors. Universities are attractive targets and favorable locations for a variety of adverse events (violent attacks, disease outbreaks, criminal activity, and mass disturbances.) Undoubtedly yesterday's tragedy will increase interest in disaster planning at universities. One factor that should become central to planning is the ubiquity of mobile communications technology. Students texted each other to stay abreast of events and of course, there is the now famous celphone video. Properly harnessed this technology could have been an invaluable resource - not only for informing the students and public about evolving events - but for helping authorities locate the injured and track the killer's movements. This is the age of the network, and the ability of peopl…
creator: Aaron Mannes
date: 2007-05-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

Virginia Tech Video Tribute - Tragedy 4/16/07 - "Fix You"
description: NOTE: 65 MB AVI (Divx) Alternate streaming media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW8XT_H_gOs I feel my video is unique in that I incorporate not only all the names of the 32 victims tied to their respective picture, but also many of the moving moments and quotations of the hours following the tragedy. The song, "Fix You", inspired me to produce this video. I first heard the song in the trailer to the movie "World Trade Center". As you listen to it, you can't help but note the lyrics "the tears stream...down your face" and not be moved by that while watching all of the victims. Pay special attention to the end, when the lyrics are "lights will guide...you home" ... the picture I chose remarkably represents this phrase. Enjoy!
creator: Mitchell T. Barnett
date: 2007-04-30
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

Virginia Tech Vigil
description: Students, faculty, staff, parents, and friends of the university gather to attend the vigil at Virginia Tech. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrbelex/471661031/in/photostream/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
creator: Brett Weinstein
date: 2007-05-29
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission Brett Weinstein http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrbelex/471661031/in/photostream/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
language: eng

Virginia Tech vigil held on campus today
description: Issue Date:Wednesday April 18, 2007 Section: State & Local Section The Student Government Association is hosting a candlelight vigil tonight to mourn the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech. Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech began at a residence hall and moved across campus to Norris Hall, the university's engineering building, leaving 33 people dead and many injured. The shooting is considered the worst mass killing in U.S. history. Throughout the day, students can send messages of hope on a banner in the Mountainlair. SGA will also be handing out orange and maroon ribbons, in support for Virginia Tech, according to a press release. The vigil will then take place tonight at 9 p.m. in Woodburn Circle, weather permitting. "We want to do our part on our campus to extend our condolences to those and their families at Virginia Tech," said SGA Vice President Jason Parsons. "We encourage all students and those in the community to come out." SGA President David Kirkpatrick and President David C. Hardesty are scheduled to speak. — tmf -- Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27582
creator: tmf
date: 2008-02-18
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>
language: eng

Virginia Tech Vigil on Castle Point
description: The flag at Castle Point flows in the wind as students stand in memory of the dead at Virginia Tech. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bytenik/470838112/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
creator: David Pfeffer
date: 2007-05-23
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission Contact: David Pfeffer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bytenik/) Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
language: eng

Virginia Tech Vigil on Castle Point II
description: Briana Gilmartin helps a fellow student light a candle in remembrance of the dead at Virginia Tech. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bytenik/470855687/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
creator: David Pfeffer
date: 2007-05-23
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission Contact: David Pfeffer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bytenik/) Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
language: eng

Virginia Tech, Imus and Curve Balls
description: [Philosophical Musing on Media Culture] By Carl Davidson 20 Apr 2007 The universe throws curve balls at us, now and then. It seems to want to wake us up, and teach us lessons in impermanence and interconnectedness. Take the killings at Virginia Tech. A strange, quiet young Korean man, Cho Seung-Hui, writer of tortured and violent plays and screeds, makes his own solipsistic martial arts-gangsta video of himself, and sends it to the media, in the course of slaughtering 32 people, then killing himself. The media sensationalizes it. MSNBC ratings go through the roof as its images are repeated, to millions and millions, then all the networks join in the frenzy. As expected, other troubled youth respond, in copy-cat fashion, often only with words, and scares shut down numerous classes across the country. At the same time, discussions of 'healing' get underway. Talk show commentators are having a time of it. I hear both liberal and conservatives alike carry on about 'looking in the face of evil' and trashing the notions of illness and therapy. Rush Limbaugh and one caller on his show go on about how the Korean youth is an 'America hater,' 'suicide bomber,' and simply evil. Retired FBI guys talk about 'training' students to be able to respond better, and hiring tougher 'security.' People debate police tactics, censorship and guns. Then a British paper goes to a tiny hut in Korea, and a reporter talks to the boy's grandparents, who say he was a bad kid and 'deserved to die' for his sins. But the grandparents also reveal the poverty of his parents as they immigrated to the U.S. Most important, they reveal their grandson was diagnosed early with autism, but the poverty all around prevented them from doing much about it, either in Korea or here. Autism is recently growing with unusual speed in the US. Parents, rich and poor, are desperate for help, since dealing with an autistic child is often beyond any couple, however well off. One radio personality, Don Imus, takes up their…
creator: Carl Davidson
date: 2007-06-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication
language: eng

Virginia Tech, In Light of Tragedy
description: Submitted by boldfaith3 on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 11:29pm. Let me start by saying I am a student at Virginia Tech on my way to a degree in mechanical engineering. I have not been on this site in a while due mainly to the events last week which I am sure most of you have heard about. In light of the tragedy we have been forced to undergo, I have a lot to say. Let me first start with my story. On April 16, 2007 I slept through my 8am engineering lecture. This is something I try not to make a habit of, but with this class it has happened quite a few times. I woke up somewhere around 9:30 when my fiance called me and told me she was coming over. This was unusual since she normally has class at this time. That was when she told me that they had closed down all of the campus buildings. My first thought on this was that there was another bomb threat (We had two bomb threats in one of our buildings the week before). That was when she told me that there had been a shooting in West Ambler Johnston, a residential building where I lead a small group Bible study for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I was fairly shocked at this. I have heard about school shootings at colleges before but there is rarely ever a crime of that magnitude at Virginia Tech. We have had a small number of sexual assaults and one student was killed last year I believe, but it is rare enough that it still comes as a shock. Moving on, my fiance came over and we proceeded to check e-mails and the news to try to figure out what was going on. This is also when we called our parents to let them know we were safe (mine actually called me first). As we were talking to our parents, they asked about something that came on the news saying that there were some 22 students killed. This was entirely unbelievable and confusing. I could only think that my parents were looking at something wrong because there was no way that 22 students had been killed when I had originally heard that one student was shot in a residential bui…
creator: boldfaith3
date: 2007-05-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

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

Virginia Tech: El profesor que se convirtió en héroe
description: Publicado por Jose Kaulen C April 18, 2007, 10:03 PM La de a continuación, es una historia emocionante, llena de sentido y digna de admiración por parte de todos nosotros. In Memoriam Liviu Librescu. Liviu Librescu, un profesor de 76 años y muy respetado ingeniero aeronáutico que enseñó en Virginia Tech por 20 años, salvó la vida de varios estudiantes bloqueando la puerta de su sala de clases antes de que fuera muerto a balazos en la masacre, de acuerdo a los e-mails enviados por los alumnos a su señora. "Mi padre bloqueó la puerta con su cuerpo y les dijo a sus alumnos que escaparan" ha dicho su hijo, Joe Librescu, en una entrevista telefónica desde su casa en las afueras de Tel Aviv. Agregó además que los "estudiantes comenzaron a abrir las ventanas y a saltar hacia afuera". En el campus, los estudiantes hablan sobre el arrojo de Librescu: "Él debiera ser reconocido como un héroe" dice el estudiante de Virginia Tech Philip Huffstetler además de sentir "que están en una gran deuda con su familia por el resto de nuestras vidas". "Él es la razón de que el estudiante (Seung-Hui) no entrara y matara a más gente; obviamente es un héroe", dice Asal Arad, otro estudiante. Librescu supo de una vida difícil desde que era niño. Cuando Rumania se unió a las fuerzas nazis en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, primero fue internado en un campo de trabajos forzados en Transnistria y luego deportado junto a su familia y miles de otros judíos al ghetto central de Focsani. De acuerdo a un informe recopilado por el gobierno de Rumania en el 2004, entre 280 y 380 mil judíos fueron asesinados por el régimen rumano-nazi durante la guerra. Como un exitoso ingeniero durante el gobierno de postguerra comunista, Librescu encontró trabajo en la agencia aeroespacial de Rumania, pero su carrera fue interrumpida en los 70's porque rechazó prestar juramento de obediencia al régimen y finalmente fue despedido cuando pidió autorización para irse a Israel. De acuerdo con su…
creator: Jose Kaulen C
date: 2007-07-20
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
language: spa