Pychoanalysis won't fully explain VT killer
description: Published: Friday, April 27, 2007 Opinion articles By: Carol Duh My parents immigrated into this country in 1982. My parents told me a Taiwanese parable while I attended the same schools as Mike Pohle, one of the 32 victims of last week's massacre. In the story, a teacher took his class on a field trip to the mountains of Taiwan. On the way home, they encountered a swarm of killer bees. The teacher removed his clothing to attract the bees away from the children to his flesh. I heard the echoes of this parable while reading about Liviu Librescu, the professor who blocked the classroom door with his body while the gunman demanded entry. While he did this, students escaped through the windows. No doubt that being stung by bullets was agonizing. There was little dignity in these painful deaths, only in their sacrifice. And what of the bee? The bee who stings out of cowardice dies soon after, so we cannot ask. Panicked, we call in the world-class bee experts to explain the situation. This response, though gratifying, is in vain. Like Wall Street analysts who offer their best predictions after the fact, the analysis will not provide us with the protection we need. The bee and Seung Cho perceived threats that were not real; their behavior escapes appreciation. Let's try anyway. His parents were South Korean immigrants who sent a daughter to Princeton and a son to Virginia Tech — a feat worthy to boast of across many oceans. College is the frame upon which immigrants hang their hopes, but sometimes it comes at a price. The drive that steers us toward hard work is often frustrated by the apparent frivolity that pervades American campus culture. Fraternity keggers, society taps — these seem to be the cornerstones of the American college student's anxiety. To the ethic of a different culture, they are laughable. Seung Cho's complaints, through lunacy, tap the drumbeat of this disappointment. Seung Cho's two defining characteristics continue to be his mental health and his …
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-Chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Question Mark by artistm0nk
description: Artist's Comments ? Lay me on the ground Fly me in the sky Show me where to look Tell me what will I find... Teach me how to speak Teach me how to share Teach me where to go Tell me will love be there Will love be there? - Shine by Collective Soul This is Seung-hui Cho aka "Question Mark", the gunman of the Virginia Tech Massacre. -- Original submitted to deviantart.com on April 24, 2007: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53906656/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
creator: Aletheia Rio ("Artistmonk")
date: 2007-05-24
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: reative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5
language: eng

Questions arise from tragedy at Va. Tech
description: In wake of tragedy, nation is encouraged to focus on heroic victims of school shooting By: Megan Cox Posted: 4/20/07 A great atrocity occurred in Blacksburg on the morning of April 16. Cho Seung-Hui, a Korean-born English major at Virginia Tech, shot 62 students and teachers, killing 32 people, wounding 29 and leaving an entire nation in shock and mourning. Many people question how and why a single deranged individual could so proficiently commit "the deadliest rampage in American history." Did the university perform all of its duties to secure the safety of its students? Could a better response have saved any lives? How is the media handling this tragedy? What actions is the president taking? Could gun control laws have prevented this tragedy? Who was Cho Seung-Hui, and why did he commit these murders? Details are now trickling in about the young murderer. In an English class, he wrote plays full of grotesque violence. The playwriting professor and the English department had sought help for the young man. He was detached and troubled. He was admitted to a mental institution in late 2005. Possibly the most disturbing piece of the twisted psychological puzzle is that Seung-Hui sent a multimedia package to NBC News between the killings in the dorm and the massacre in the classrooms. It is too soon, both temporally and emotionally, to delve into all of the issues this tragedy presents. Of course, that a man like Seung-Hui should have such ready access to firearms is disturbing, and that the media is turning a profit by running such intense coverage of the tragedy is indeed unnerving. However, all these questions will pale in comparison to the introspection of human nature that follows such atrocities caused by a single man. There is evil in our midst. Some things, some acts, some people, are so horrible as to merit the use of that overused epithet. Whether people are born into it or are brought into it, whether it is caused by neglect or ridicule, whether it festers or…
creator: Megan Cox
date: 2007-08-08
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: "Dickson, Drew D." <ddickson@tulane.edu>
language: eng

Quilt
description: This quilt was made by a Sioux tribe woman. Before it left the reservation, it was blessed by two elders from the Crow and Cheyenne tribes. Boys from the St. Labre School performed a Crow ceremony called "Wiping The Tears", which is part of a yearlong ceremony honoring passing. The pattern is called the star of honor.
creator: Kacey Beddoes
date: 2008-04-09
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Kacey Beddoes (kbeddoes@vt.edu)
language: eng

Quilt for Cadets
description: One of the items on display at the Alumni Center Art Exhibit. On 4/16/08, as part of the Day of Remembrance observance, the Holtzman Alumni Center Museum displayed examples of art, crafts, quilts, and other memorabilia contributed since April 16, 2007. This is one of over 60,000 items that will eventually go to Special Collections at Newman Library. A quilt for the Corps of Cadets sent from Colorado State University with a letter that said: "Dear Corps of Cadets, On behalf of the Arnold Air Society and Detachment 090 at Colorado State University, we would like to send our deepest condolences for those affected by the violence. You have been on our minds a great deal the past few weeks and our hearts go out to you. We wanted to show our support in some way, so we created a quilt that bears the messages from students here at Colorado State University. We passed out thousands of ribbons bearing the Virginia Tech colors, and students and faculty alike signed the quilts and wore the ribbons in support. We collected donations and have sent them to the scholarship fund in the name Matt La Porte. We know that nothing can replace the loss of a loved one, and that only through the support of one another and time will the wounds start to heal. We felt that this was the least that we could do, and we wanted to show our support in some way. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Timothy Vedra AAS C/Major Captain Mark Giles Danielson Squadron Commander Colorado State University Det 090 720.308.7183"
creator: Kacey Beddoes
date: 2008-05-09
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Kacey Beddoes (kbeddoes@vt.edu)
language: eng

Rachael Elizabeth Hill
description: Items left at the memorial plaque of Rachael Hill on the drillfield. Photo taken on 5-1-07. Photo by Teri H. Hoover.
creator: Teri H. Hoover
date: 2008-04-21
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Teri H. Hoover <crystalirisphotos@gmail.com>
language: eng

Rachael Hill
description: Remembering those from Richmond...a girl from the west end. Original source: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b3292af30542&auto=0&idx=6&m=1&d=1180361637260 Photo courtesy of Krissy Watson
creator: Krissy Watson
date: 2007-05-28
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Photo courtesy of Krissy Watson krissywatson@gmail.com
language: eng

Ramirez signs autographs
description: Relief pitcher Edwar Ramirez signs a baseball for fans at the Yankees vs Hokies baseball game on March 18, 2008. Photo by Roger Gupta. -- Original Source http://flickr.com/photos/spector1/2350659089/
creator: Roger Gupta
date: 2008-03-25
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: "Gupta, Roger" <ragupta@vt.edu>
language: eng

Random attacks difficult to stop
description: April 17, 2007 By IDA JAMSHIDI Reporter Government officials are calling it the deadliest rampage in the history of the United States. Virginia Tech University was the site of a mass shooting Monday, leaving at least 33 people dead, including an unidentified gunman, whom police believed took his own life. Dozens were injured. Baylor Police Chief Jim Doak said it is nearly impossible to predict an incident like the Virginia Tech shooting. But he said Baylor police regularly participate in structured drills so that officers are prepared for this type of event. "We want to act swiftly. We want to be decisive with an active goal of neutralizing or killing the shooter," Doak said. If a person is caught in the midst of a shooting, Doak said the best thing to do is look for a way out. "Preferably, you're looking for an opening," he said. "If you have no way out, your best offense is to play dead. Drop to the floor and lay there motionless." Doak said Baylor students should be aware of their surroundings and not hesitate to report suspicions. "Awareness is the greatest ally of any student," he said. "Students don't normally think in terms of what's around the next corner." The Baylor Police Department receives around 400 "suspicious person" calls every year, said Doak, while 20 years ago, they received only about 25 calls reporting suspicious behavior. Dr. Susan Matlock-Hetzel, a psychologist at the Baylor Counseling Center, said that when people are caught in a dangerous situation, such as a shooting, they might do things they would not normally do. "If people are placed in that kind of emotional, shocking event, our natural tendency is to go into that fight or flight response," she said. "Our mental capacities would go to surviving." Matlock-Hetzel said that the trauma of the shooting will affect each student differently, and the university will have to decide what is best for the majority of the students. "That community will be having multiple phases of responding to th…
creator: Ida Jamshidi
date: 2007-10-02
contributor: Haeyong Chung
language: eng

Random attacks difficult to stop
description: April 17, 2007 By IDA JAMSHIDI Reporter Government officials are calling it the deadliest rampage in the history of the United States. Virginia Tech University was the site of a mass shooting Monday, leaving at least 33 people dead, including an unidentified gunman, whom police believed took his own life. Dozens were injured. Baylor Police Chief Jim Doak said it is nearly impossible to predict an incident like the Virginia Tech shooting. But he said Baylor police regularly participate in structured drills so that officers are prepared for this type of event. "We want to act swiftly. We want to be decisive with an active goal of neutralizing or killing the shooter," Doak said. If a person is caught in the midst of a shooting, Doak said the best thing to do is look for a way out. "Preferably, you're looking for an opening," he said. "If you have no way out, your best offense is to play dead. Drop to the floor and lay there motionless." Doak said Baylor students should be aware of their surroundings and not hesitate to report suspicions. "Awareness is the greatest ally of any student," he said. "Students don't normally think in terms of what's around the next corner." The Baylor Police Department receives around 400 "suspicious person" calls every year, said Doak, while 20 years ago, they received only about 25 calls reporting suspicious behavior. Dr. Susan Matlock-Hetzel, a psychologist at the Baylor Counseling Center, said that when people are caught in a dangerous situation, such as a shooting, they might do things they would not normally do. "If people are placed in that kind of emotional, shocking event, our natural tendency is to go into that fight or flight response," she said. "Our mental capacities would go to surviving." Matlock-Hetzel said that the trauma of the shooting will affect each student differently, and the university will have to decide what is best for the majority of the students. "That community will be having multiple phases of responding to th…
creator: IDA JAMSHIDI
date: 2008-02-05
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Julie Freeman (Julie_Freeman@baylor.edu)
language: eng

Re-Imaging Violence
description: Recorded Thursday, April 19 (24 MB MP3) We've decided to scrap tonight's planned show (about language post-Imus) in favor of a show about the visual reverberations of the Virginia Tech shooting. Our central prod came from the trusty barthjg, who wrote: I'll pitch a show about Instant Symbols and Icons, based on the Virgina Tech killings. The image of Cho Seung-Hui brazenly holding two handguns, arms outstretched will soon reach iconic status, to be mashed up and shared in all sorts of ways-just like the Abu gharib photos and Che' and everything else that has appeared on t-shirts and ads. How many You Tube videos created in the wake of the shootings? music tributes. every incident enters the mosh pit of creative repurposing. Who is going to write the music, the movie...track every 6 months how pieces of this tragedy filter thru global culture. Watch someone stage the two crazy plays this guy wrote for the drama class he is in. (you can find them on aol.com...i read them last night) barthjg, in a show suggestion to Open Source, April 19, 2007 We're following his lead, and asking: Is there anything to learn about the way we use new technologies in this first mass-murder made, as it were, for YouTube? Are mashups and tributes a form of digital catharsis, a sort of artistic safety valve? Is there a cross-over point where they become pure exploitation, or worse? And what, exactly, is new here? Besides the zeros and the ones, and the ease of dissemination and reconfiguration, is there a difference between a 19th-century suicide note and a 21st-century QuickTime movie? Siva Vaidhyanathan Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication, NYU Blogger, SABEROCRACY.NET Keith Jenkins Picture Editor, The Washington Post Flickr blogger, Burnt Pixel Blogger, Good Reputation Sleeping Founder of the Post's Blog City feature James Der Derian Director of the Global Security and Global Media Project at The Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University Author of Virtuous…
creator: Open Source Media, Inc.
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: David Miller Senior Producer, Open Source www.radioopensource.org 617.497.8096 david@radioopensource.org
language: eng

Reaction to Hearing the News
description: After being advised to stay away from windows and such on April 16, many of the Career Services staff and students who were in our building at the time gathered together in an interior room (our staff lounge). As things were unfolding on campus around us we were watching the news and hearing what was unfolding. This photo was taken as we had just learned of the first seven fatalities in Norris Hall. Everyone was shocked. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. As the morning unfolded an we watched intently we were overwhelmed with grieve that this had happened. We had to be strong for the students who were among us. It was surreal. I took this photo, but it didn't even feel right taking a photo at this time. I only took three photos as it was too upsetting.
creator: Mary Ann Cole
date: 2008-03-26
contributor: Mary Ann Cole
language: eng

Read memorial
description: Memorial stone of Mary Karen Read on 4/16/08. Photo by Brian Sewell. -- Original Source; http://flickr.com/photos/briansewell/2419986298/in/set-72157604577382666/
creator: Brian Sewell
date: 2008-05-02
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Brian Sewell <bwsewell@vt.edu>
language: eng

Recent Shooting at Virginia Tech: Looking Through Another Lens
description: By John Williams "A 1st Sergeant handed me an ammo box of 240 rounds: the blood-stained rounds that my best friend had been using when he was shot and killed in an ambush, on a patrol that he wasn't supposed to be on, one day after we were told we were going to be back home." -Toby Hartbarger, Army SPC For me, it was this story that my mind instantly recalled after I heard about the shootings in Virginia last week, for Virginia Tech leads U.S. civilian schools in sending officers to the U.S. Military. It was a terrible tragedy, and I had heard of similar events before, but my thoughts intensified because the killings hit so close to home. I realized then that so many people I know have experienced similar, instantaneously deep connections to other tragedies that have occurred in different ways across the globe. It is these lightning connections, these synapses firing without control, that I would like to address. The tragedy at Virginia Tech (VT) is not an isolated incident, or an anomaly. Though some argue that Cho was insane, and while I have no doubt this might be true, we as a society commit acts of similar insanity on a regular basis. We must take notice of the correlation between a guy like Cho and people like us. The articles I have read about Cho try so hard to push him away from what we are; he was a loner, crazy, friendless, different. We point at the connections between his plays and his actions and wonder why his actions weren't noticed, or prevented. But what if we turn the camera on ourselves? It is much harder to look at the things we do — the video-game realities we spend time in, the films we see and books we read that are bound with senseless killing and violence — and ask the same questions. There is a surge of inspection thrown onto this lone figure, Cho, yet we place hardly an ounce of introspection onto ourselves. I would love to believe that the VT shootings were an isolated incident, that they were an anomaly, that I do not live in a worl…
creator: John Williams
date: 2007-08-24
contributor: Sara AA Hood
language: eng

Reclaimed Spirit
description: This piece of art entitled, "Reclaimed Spirit", was accompanied by the following message from the artist: "This work of art is hand forged totally from reclaimed materials. The feathers were forged from angle iron reclaimed from metal pallets from a local tractor dealer. The feathers are attached to a steel ring, the remnants of a feeding device found in a cow pasture. The letters VT are fabricated from square tubing again reclaimed from metal pallets, this time from a local compressor manufacturer. The ribbon of steel was recovered from an old abandoned farmhouse foundation. The copper scroll was formed from what was a door kick plate in its previous life. The paint and finish were the only items purchased new. Truly green art, as the materials are recycled or reclaimed, so goes the victims' spirit. There are 32 turkey gobbler feathers that represent the 32 victims. They are placed in a circle or wreath shape that symbolizes the circle of life. The wreath encircles the VT logo and ribbon. The ribbons' colors are maroon, orange, and black rather than white to symbolize the darkest day in VT's history. The letters VT were finished to match the feathers to signify that VT's Spirit is with those victims. Finally, the copper scroll represents the Honorary Degrees given to all the victims in pursuit of higher learning. This "Reclaimed Spirit" is a tribute to the memory of the 32 innocent students and faculty members who were tragically taken from our Hokie Nation. It is up to those of us left behind to do what we can to "Reclaim their Spirit". Contributed by; Hunter C. Perkinson Jr., Alumni 1980 Bradford C. Van Horn, Alumni 1980" Photo taken at the April 16 Memorial on April 15, 2008. Photo by Brent Jesiek. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
creator: Brent Jesiek
date: 2008-05-23
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)
language: eng

Reema Joseph Samaha
description: Items left at the memorial plaque of Reema Samaha on the drillfield. Photo taken on 5-1-07. Photo by Teri H. Hoover.
creator: Teri H. Hoover
date: 2008-04-21
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Teri H. Hoover <crystalirisphotos@gmail.com>
language: eng

Reema's Rock
description: Reema's stone is marked by flowers, letters, and memorabilia from loved ones. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincupp/470150247/in/photostream/ Photo Courtesy of Kevin Cupp
creator: Kevin Cupp
date: 2007-06-07
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Photo Courtesy of Kevin Cupp http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincupp/470150247/in/photostream/
language: eng

Reflections as a Director
description: Reflections as a Director of a Psychology Training Clinic on the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech (Written for the Association of Directors of Psychology Training Clinics) On the morning of April 16, 2007, a male student shot to death 32 students and faculty, wounded 17 more, and then killed himself on the campus of Virginia Tech. In the midst of unspeakable grief, the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg community, with tremendous support from many people, did an incredible job of responding as best as it could to meet the needs of those most deeply affected. My purpose of this article is to briefly describe my experiences and reflections on the role of the psychology training clinic and my role as the Director in the days following this particularly tragic event. To better understand our response, a brief description of the type and structure of clinical services at Virginia Tech. Like any major higher-learning institution, Virginia Tech has an on-campus, university-based counseling center, the Cook Counseling Center, which has a staff of 10-12 full-time counselors, 3-5 interns, 3-5 externship students, and 1-2 psychiatrists. The Psychological Services Center of Virginia, of which I am the Director, is an off-campus, community-based training facility for the Ph.D. Clinical Psychology program in the Department of Psychology. At any one time, we typically have 20-25 graduate students in various stages of their training enrolled in clinical practicum and seeing clients. Additionally, the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program also has an off-campus training center for their graduate students. The Cook Counseling Center and the Psychological Services Center (and the MFT clinic) are separate facilities and organizations. Over the years, our relationship with the counseling center has been good especially in terms of reciprocal referral and training opportunities. In response to the shootings, the primary "clinical" responder to the university community was the Cook Counsel…
creator: Lee Cooper
date: 2008-04-07
contributor: Lee Cooper
language: eng

Reflections of Virginia Tech
description: 06/08/07 Manny Frishberg • JTNews Correspondent On the morning of April 16, Dr. Liviu Librescu, a 76-year-old Holocaust survivor and aeronautical engineering professor, blocked the door of his classroom in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech so that his students could escape through the windows. One month later, on the shloshim of his death, the University of Washington Chabad brought Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe to the UW campus for a memorial lecture in Librescu's honor that looked at, among other things, how his actions should be viewed through a Jewish lens. Shlomo Yaffe serves as rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, Conn. and the founding director of the Institute for Jewish Literacy and the founder of the Connecticut Symposium on Contemporary Legal Issues and Jewish Law in Hartford. He is well known for his ability to make Jewish mysticism accessible to people to make use of it in daily life. After studying rocket science and WWII history, Yaffe turned to Talmudic law and Hassidic philosophy. He has written and lectured on the Judaic perspective of contemporary, legal, scientific and social issues. Rabbi Yaffe is also an expert on secular law and legal ethics who serves as a legal consultant and lecturer for the New York Legal Assistance Group. Rabbi Yaffe began his talk with the question: "From the standpoint of Jewish ethics and law, did [Prof. Librescu] do the right thing? He put himself against the door, which someone could, and did ultimately, shoot through and kill him. Was he really supposed to give his life for others? "This is not such a simple question," Yaffe explained, "because if someone's life is no less valuable than your own, then it's certainly no more valuable than your own." He promised to answer that question, but first took an hour-long digression that began with the question of how German society, with its long traditions of scientific and philosophical leadership, could emerge in the 1930s as the author of the Holocaust, one of the most…
creator: Manny Frishberg
date: 2007-07-02
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Joel Magalnick - JTNews (editor@jtnews.net)
language: eng

Reflections on a Mass Homicide (Commentary)
description: (PDF, 30KB; Full text below.) Commentary Reflections on a Mass Homicide Jimmy Lee,1 MBBS, MMed (Psych), Tih-Shih Lee,1,2 MD, PhD, FRCP (C), Beng-Yeong Ng,1 MBBS, MMed (Psych), FAMS 1 Department of Psychiatry, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore2 Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore Address for Correspondence: Dr Tih-Shih Lee, Department of Psychiatry, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Outram Road, Singapore 169608. Email: tihshih.lee@gms.edu.sg Introduction The names "Virginia Tech" and "Cho" will be associated forever with the tragic mass homicide of 32 persons cum suicide by Seung-Hui Cho on 16 April 2007. In the aftermath, many questions have been posed: "What happened and why?", "Was he crazy?", "Could it have been prevented?", "Could it happen here?" This was the third mass killing in a US campus, with the largest number of fatalities. The first was in 1966 in the University of Texas with 16 dead and 31 wounded, then the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, in which 13 students were killed. We do not profess to know more about what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia, or Cho's neuropsychiatric condition than whatever is published in the popular press.1 But through a series of questions, we reflect on this tragedy, attempt to place it into a human and psychiatric perspective, and offer insights into if, and how, it can be averted in the future. Question 1: Was Cho insane? Cho was described as a shy and quiet child, who was good in mathematics, but struggled with English. There were allegations of him being taunted and bullied in school since young. Both his pastor and relatives had suspected he might be autistic and suggested professional assistance. There was no record of him being involved in overt violence except that he had harassed 2 female classmates, one of whom called in the campus police. He expressed suicidal ideation and was involuntarily committed by a judge in a mental health facility briefly for assessment. A psychiatrist wrote in his…
creator: Jimmy Lee, Tih-Shih Lee, and Beng-Yeong Ng
date: 2007-08-26
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Kirat Kaur (Ms) Editorial Executive Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore annals@academyofmedicine.edu.sg
language: eng