Westborough grad, a Virginia Tech student, is safe
By Galen Moore/Daily News staff GHS Fri Apr 20, 2007, 12:55 AM EDT WESTBOROUGH - Andrew Dyche is safe, but for 30 terrifying minutes Monday his mother, Amy Belue, didn't know it. Dyche, a 2003 graduate of Westborough High School, will graduate from Virginia Tech in June. He was at home in his off-campus apartment the morning fellow student Cho Seung-Hui shot 32 people, then turned a gun on himself. On Monday, after learning of the killings from a co-worker over the Internet, it took Belue, who now lives in Colorado, 30 minutes of trying and re-trying jammed telephone circuits to reach her son. When they got through, the campus was already locked down, he told her. Dyche left Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday to stay with high school friends at the University of Connecticut. The atmosphere at Virginia Tech, where both his mother and father also went to school, was too much to bear, he said. "Our campus is still swarmed with reporters, news media and cops," he said. "No one's really leaving their apartments." The university canceled classes for the week. Dyche, who first learned of the shootings when his roommate called him from a bus that had been stopped, didn't know any of the students who were killed or injured Monday. For that, he feels lucky. The week's events came as a shock, but they won't change his opinion of the school, he said. When he goes back, he will feel as safe as he could hope to feel anywhere, he said. Belue, who moved with her husband, Dyche's stepfather, to Colorado in 2004, said she still feels a strong bond with the college she attended 30 years ago. "We just love the community down there," she said. "It's so sad this is a part of the history now." Dyche said though he knows there will be questions, he hopes students won't turn to blaming authorities for what happened. "It's kind of difficult that (Cho) took his own life, because now it feels like we need to shift the blame somewhere else," Dyche said. "He's gone and you can't take it out on him." (Galen Moore can be reached at 508-490-7453 or gmoore@cnc.com.) -- Original Source: Milford, MA - The Milford Daily News http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x663839027 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0.
Galen Moore / The Milford Daily News staff
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0
Thoughts About Media Coverage of the Virginia Tech Tragedy
posted 5.01.07 Otto Wahl, Ph.D., University of Hartford The tragic death of 33 students at Virginia Tech has shocked and saddened us all. Given the mental health aspects of the situation, it is not surprising that there has been much in the coverage about mental illnesses and their treatment. Unfortunately, the articles and editorials that followed the shootings have often been troubling in what they convey to the public about mental illnesses and mental health interventions. One troubling aspect of the media coverage has been the frequent vilification and dehumanization of the troubled young man who perpetrated the killings. Appropriately sympathetic descriptions of the background and lives of the "32" victims were widespread, and such descriptions helped us to better appreciate the tragedy on a more personal level. However, descriptions of the 33rd person who died in the tragedy, Cho Seung-Hui, focused almost exclusively on his pathology, his anger, and his menacing manner. Some media sources characterized Cho as motivated by "meanness;" others labeled him as a "fiend," a "psychopath," or "just plain "evil." Such coverage ignored the fact that Cho's death—and much of his life—was also a tragedy. His alienation, isolation, anger, and ultimate suicide are probably not the life goals he set out for himself. Much of the media coverage did discuss Cho's mental health, but mostly without notable empathy for his difficulties. Related is the mistaken implication in coverage of Cho's actions that mental illness and violence are synonymous. The widespread images of Cho brandishing weapons epitomized the already prevalent public image of the "menacing madman," and that image was underscored further by the fear-inducing labels Cho was given in many media accounts, such as "maniac" and "psycho" and worse. Likewise, the repeated discussions of the need to protect the college community—and the larger community—from such individuals served to reinforce unwarranted public fears of people with mental illnesses. The vast majority of people with mental illnesses, including severe mental illnesses, are neither violent nor criminal. The vast majority of students on campus who are living with mental illnesses are not threatening others, but working and studying to make better lives for themselves. I saw little discussion of this in media coverage. The events at Virginia Tech were truly horrendous. The media, like the public, searched to make sense of the tragedy and to find clues as to how future tragedies could be prevented. However, there was a tendency to focus on mental illness as the sole or primary explanation for the horrific outcome at Virginia Tech. Many reporters and even mental health professionals seemed to commit what social scientists have dubbed the "fundamental attribution error." This term refers to our tendency to attribute the actions of others, particularly unacceptable actions, to their inner, psychological attributes and to neglect potential situational influences. If we succumb to this error and focus mainly on the possible internal causes of behavior, the mental health of Cho Seung-Hui in this case, we may overlook other potential contributors to the event and, thus, other potential and important avenues for prevention. Often overlooked, then, were questions about how we engage or do not engage students on our college campuses or how we do or do not integrate diverse students to better create a sense of community, questions about what gaps in understanding and education about cultural differences might have contributed to Cho's apparent isolation and to the ultimate outcome, and questions about the extent to which stigma and negative attitudes about mental health problems could have contributed to Cho's apparent reluctance to accept counseling assistance despite the recommendations of Virginia Tech faculty. Instead of looking at the factors above, many media reports implied—directly or indirectly—that the major preventive solution is the lessening of restrictions on involuntary hospitalization. After horrific events like the Virginia Tech deaths, it is easy to forget that the current criteria for involuntary psychiatric commitment result from a long history of indiscriminate and abusive use of forced hospitalization and from a belated recognition that the individual civil rights of people with mental illnesses need protection. Just as the tragic events of 9/11 should not have allowed us to dismantle the basic civil liberties on which our country is founded, a tragic event like Virginia Tech should not serve as justification for diminishing the hard won civil protections of the millions of people with mental illnesses. But it may, and some of the news coverage is suggesting that it should. Also, it is not clear that involuntary commitment for Cho would have been the appropriate solution. Coerced treatment may have poorer long term outcomes than voluntary treatment if it creates trauma and fuels antagonism and poorer treatment compliance. For a person like Cho, who already felt persecuted and angry, this may have been likely. So hospitalization might have only postponed the tragic outcome. Outpatient treatment may have had a better chance of succeeding in helping Cho and preventing the lethal outcome. In hindsight, we know it was not successful, but we do not know that involuntary hospitalization would have had more success. The events at Virginia Tech have led to calls for greater security on campuses and for a better ability of campus authorities to exclude people with serious mental illnesses from the campus. Again, this represents a troubling inclination to further restrict the rights and opportunities of people living with mental illnesses. Easier hospitalization and campus restrictions are not what is needed for preventing tragedies such as the one at Virginia Tech. Instead, we need better training of service providers to deal with individuals who are reluctant to accept treatment, and therapeutic alternatives that are more attractive, less aversive, and better funded. We also need reduced stigma for seeking and accepting treatment, along with greater outreach and prevention efforts. I do not mean to suggest that there was no sensitive and appropriate media coverage of the events. Many stories were sympathetic to the needs of troubled youth on campuses, urging improvements and cautioning against attempts to exclude students. Former Rosalynn Carter Journalism Fellow, John Head, for example, wrote, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "A policy that punishes students for enduring emotional and mental disturbances will only discourage them from seeking help." Articles and editorials have called for expanded suicide prevention programs and improvements in culturally competent services, as well. An article in the Washington Post, by another former Carter Fellow, Shankar Vedantam looked "beyond the shooter," to consider social factors that may have contributed to the fatal outcome. And there did emerge a number a number of pieces that looked more fully and sympathetically at the life of Cho Seung-Hui and at his family's pain and suffering. Media coverage also brought to light the archaic and offensive language of the federal statutes for regulation of gun purchases. I am referring to the prohibition against selling guns to "mental defectives,' a category which, for the federal government, apparently includes persons with mental illnesses. I am amazed that such a reference to mental illness—language that was discarded decades ago because of its pejorative nature and its connection to eugenics and Nazi cleansing—could still be the chosen terminology in the laws of our country.I can only hope that the wide exposure of this language in the press may lead to sufficient embarrassment and/or outrage as to generate an appropriate updating. I am, however, cautiously optimistic. Despite the great deal of stigmatizing coverage that has surrounded the tragic loss of life at Virginia Tech, the discussions that are occurring have the potential to generate important changes. Chief among these are greater understanding of and improved responsiveness to mental health needs on campuses. I do not mean to suggest, as some media coverage has, that these are needed primarily to protect the student body from unstable shooters, but rather that they are needed so that universities can enhance their abilities to support the learning and accomplishment of all students, including the many who experience mental health problems. -- Archived with permission of the author. Original Source: MIWatch.org http://www.miwatch.org/Wahl.htm
Blacksburg, diocese seek shalom after April 16 shootings
ERD provides a $20,000 grant for counseling By Christie M. Wills They're calling it a "Hokie Cry." It's described as a wave of emotion that washes over people in the Virginia Tech community, sometimes out of the blue, sometimes when they thought they were doing just fine. Christ Church, Blacksburg, parishioner Bob Miller remembers one Hokie Cry on a Sunday morning. "It was the day when one of the lectionary readings ended with 'and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' The layreader had to collect herself to get through it and lots of us cried along with her," said Miller. Although Blacksburg was clearly the epicenter, people across the diocese felt the pain of the events of April 16. Most churches in the New River convocation have parishioners who are employed at Virginia Tech. Even parishes too far away to have Tech employees often have parents or grandparents of current Tech students. So on Saturday, April 21, Bishop Neff Powell called a diocesan meeting to provide guidance on how the Church might respond, especially on the first Sunday after the shooting. On several days' notice, over 40 clergy and lay leaders across the diocese attended a daylong gathering at St. Thomas, Christiansburg, to pray and gain strength for the journey. New York psychologist Dr. Karen Binder-Brynes, a trauma counselor for the Episcopal Church who has worked with Katrina survivors and firefighters at the World Trade Center, led the program. "You have my deepest respect for all you've been through," said Dr. Karen, who spoke to the group via speakerphone. She explained that the closer people are to the site of a traumatic event, the more affected they are. She said that it was normal to swing between feeling numb and feeling overwhelmed, as well as feeling sadness, loss, hopelessness and anger. "Senseless tragedies like this render us feeling out of control which is often a shameful feeling. That's one reason why we may have found ourselves glued to the TV, looking for answers," she said. "A Mary Tragedy" By late afternoon on April 16, many diocesan parishes had made plans for evening vigils and prayer services [including St. John's and St. Elizabeth's, Roanoke, and St. Stephen's, Forest]. Throughout the week, more parishes held services of remembrance and many noted a moderate number of visitors in their midst. At the same time, the staff at Christ Church, Blacksburg, had determined that while no Episcopal parishioners were among the killed or injured, the web of connectedness within the parish and the Tech community was intimate. Some parishioners eventually attended three or four or more funerals for friends, colleagues and students. All week, the parish phone rang frequently. According to secretary Judie Marsh, the majority of calls were either reporters or folks from outside the parish who called to offer condolences or assistance. On Tuesday, April 17, interim rector Elizabeth Morgan started her day by doing a live interview at 7 a.m. with a cable news anchor outside the parish office. She said one of the more bizarre phone calls she fielded that week was from a filmmaker in New York who wanted to arrive the next day and follow her around with a cameraman to produce a documentary. Morgan turned him down. Canterbury chaplain Scott Russell was en route home from a trip to Germany and did not learn what had happened until he passed through customs late on Monday. He returned to Blacksburg on Tuesday evening in time to join the Canterbury Club at the candlelight prayer vigil on campus. In his absence, the diocesan office dispatched two trauma-trained clergy, the Revs. Stephen Stanley, Christ Church, Roanoke, and Fran McCoy of St. Mark's, St. Paul/All Saints, Norton, in response to a request for additional chaplains by the campus student activities office. Stanley, McCoy, Hollins Chaplain Jan Fuller and Russell all reported spending a portion of their time on campus shielding grieving people from media cameras and from "the howling evangelists with the bullhorn calls for campus repentance echoing across the drill field," according to a sermon that Stanley later wrote. As the days passed, it became clear that while the tragedy was intense in Southwestern Virginia, even life-changing for some, there was very little that people could do in response, except pray. In his column for "Connections," Bishop Neff Powell assured all that "prayer will come into the locked rooms of fear in our hearts and begin to restore a measure of shalom." As Elizabeth Foster, Director of Christian Education at Christ Church, wrote in an email on April 19, "The most helpful thing at this point is to pray. That is kind of frustrating for those of us who are Marthas, but there is little we can do. We are depending on the Marys to pray for our strength and wisdom." World Response As the news spread, Episcopalians across the country and Anglicans around the world reached out to share their grief and support. Bishop Powell said one of the first emails he received was from Bishop David James in Bradford, England. Two particularly humbling emails of condolence were received on behalf of the diocese: one from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seoul expressing the shock and sorrow of Korean Catholics and one from the Rev. Bol Deng, a protégé of the late Rev. Marc Nikkel, in war-torn Sudan. Several dioceses, including Delaware, Colorado, Western Washington and Utah, made response to the tragedy on the front page or within their diocesan newspapers. The Diocese of Delaware opened their annual convention with prayerful silence for the murder victims and for all young people. Their convention keynote speaker, George Packard, Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies, had also met with Bishop Powell in New York (where Powell had been on sabbatical) to plan the April 20 gathering for leaders in this diocese. Utah Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish wrote a poem which she read at an interfaith service of remembrance at the University of Utah. Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California wrote about the event in his online blog. Andrus is a Virginia Tech alumnus and credits the Christ Church Canterbury Club as his gateway to the Episcopal Church. Visits to the diocesan website quadrupled over normal daily traffic, peaking at about 2,000 hits per day in the first week. Within 36 hours, the diocese created an online presence to serve as a streamlined clearinghouse for up-to-date information. It prominently featured two buttons: one to request help and the other to offer help to others. Thanks to a small Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) grant, the site will be a permanent feature of the diocesan website. In times between emergencies, it will be a place to find resources on disaster preparedness. Visit dioswva.org/respond Moving Forward In a late May interview, campus chaplain Scott Russell said that looking back, much of the first week was a blur. For the most part, he spent the days on campus, running on adrenaline. Then, over the next few weeks, he and the rest of the Christ Church staff called on those they had not yet seen at church. "Some people process grief differently. Some get very quiet or retreat, which is okay, but we're checking on them," said Russell. In the last remaining days of classes, the core group of the Canterbury Club spent a lot of time together. "Many folks donated food so we had plenty to eat and often ate together. When we went out for a meal, we saw the look of recognition in other people's eyes; that they were touched in the same way," said Russell. Russell thanked those in the parish, in the diocese and around the world who prayed for the students and wrote letters to them. Youth from across the country including San Francisco and Arizona sent prayers written on colorful fabric in the style of Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. The campus ministry at Christ Church also received many donations, such as from the youth of Grace Memorial, Lynchburg who sent $539 from a sub sandwich fundraiser. In all, about $5000 in donations was added to the newly formed Christ Church campus ministry endowment. On the last Sunday before graduation, Katie Stanhagen, the president of the parish's Canterbury Club thanked the congregation for their support of the students. Russell said she told parishioners that they had modeled for her what it meant to be in a loving Christian community. The vestry of Christ Church has appointed a committee to implement an approximately $20,000 ERD grant that was given to support counseling efforts for the wider public. Since the area was well-supplied with grief counselors in the first weeks of the tragedy, the parish committee has focused on using the grant to reach out to the community in the summer and into the school year. Among the options being considered: an ongoing, ecumenical series of community events such as films and lectures to provide a place to work through grief together; construction of a community labyrinth; specialized "care-for-the-caregiver" support, particularly for Tech faculty and staff. Russell expects to have a busy summer as he is leading the parish since interim rector Elizabeth Morgan was called to a parish in South Carolina. He'll also begin to contact incoming Episcopal students and will rotate with other campus ministers in staffing an information table during the orientation season. And he is looking forward to preaching at the increased number of weddings to be held at Christ Church this summer. "Our parish is a very organic place; we're able to take what comes. But I'm looking forward to the sense of joy that these weddings will bring," said Russell. // To read updates of the events as they were posted and first-hand journal entries about the tragedy, as well as find information on disaster preparedness, visit dioswva.org/respond -- Archived with permission of author. Original Source: The Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia http://www.dioswva.org/news/2007/jun/blacksburg-diocese-seek-shalom-after-april-16-shootings
Security 101: Salem State and other campuses step up safety
By Dinah Cardin/salem@cnc.com GateHouse News Service Fri Jul 13, 2007, 12:29 PM EDT Salem - Paducah. Jonesboro. Columbine. They may sound like destinations toured by a small garage band, but if we reach back in memory, they are actually cities that have suffered at the hands of teenage angst combined with dangerous weapons. The Virginia Tech massacre this past spring was a wake-up call to institutions of higher education all over the world. High schools may have their metal detectors and movies starring Michelle Pfeiffer about tough street kids and their violent behavior, but colleges have so far been wide open to strangers and incident. As Shane Rodriguez, deputy director of the Salem State College Police Department, says, when Seung Hui Cho fatally shot 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech, he created "our 9-11." Last July, campus police placed an officer on the task of emergency preparedness. But Virginia Tech put the wheels into rapid motion. "When people send their sons and daughters to college, the last thing they expect is that they will be gunned down in a classroom or residence hall," says Rodriguez. That's why on June 29, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett convened the first annual Essex County College Summit, linking campus security departments with the state police and the FBI. Officers from Salem State, Northern Essex Community, Endicott, Marion Court and Gordon colleges discussed their various security measures and listened to Col. Mark Delaney from the state police outline a training program for dealing specifically with school shooters. One of the most unique questions posed to Delaney was whether students should be locked in or out during a hostile shooter situation. His answer? Less moving parts means less confusion for law enforcement. Lock the doors, get away from the windows and wait for the "cavalry." The cavalry could be any number of local, state and federal law enforcement officers. But getting them on campus can take a while. That's why it comes down to campus police to initially act in a situation. The FBI terrorism division told the officers to develop a plan and then stick with it, practice it and learn from it. Without being too invasive in students' lives. Part of this, says Rodriguez, involves reaching out to police departments in Swampscott and other surrounding towns, including them in the plan to call in every available law enforcement officer. Officers from Salem State College will participate in the state police's active shooter program later this month, along with officers from the Salem Police Department. The state-funded program involves donning swat team equipment and simulating locking down a school to reach the ultimate goal of eliminating the violent threat and saving lives. The only cost to police departments is for the paint balls they will be shooting out of their weapons. Being prepared Across the North Shore, college officials are working to tighten security in time for the fall semester. Of them all, Salem State is probably at the highest risk for a violent attack since the city is difficult to get in and out of, the college encompasses four separate campuses and two new residence halls are being built. It's not only the largest in the area and constantly growing, Salem State is a big commuter school and is soon going to university status. Needless to say, there is a lot going on. All of this poses a big challenge for safety. Arming officers at Salem State is simply a necessity to protect the students and staff, says the chief of campus police. They started carrying patrol pistols a couple of years ago. "We finally came to the conclusion it was time," says Salem State chief of police Bill Anglin. "We're our own little city now." Schools are also looking to use technology to keep students away from campus in case of such an emergency. For two years, the state is funding a text messaging system on all state college campuses that will alert students of emergencies as well as snow days. During registration, the college will be collecting cell phone numbers from students. It's been proven, says Robert Paterson, chief information officer at Salem State, that you only need 65 to 70 percent of student phone numbers for the system to work. There are enough students hanging out together that the word gets around. "The big thing that we learned from Virginia Tech is you need to have multiple channels of communication to the community," says Paterson. The lesson of overloaded communication channels has been learned on 9-11 and during Hurricane Katrina. Even on Thanksgiving, phone lines get jammed. The school is still working out the final cost when the two-year state funded initiative runs out. Salem State is the only college in Essex County with armed officers. But that could soon change. "We're moving closer in that direction," says John Soucy, environmental, health and safety officer at Gordon College. This might come as a surprise for a religious institution. "We like to think the Lord is protecting us," says Soucy. Still, he says, public safety is service oriented and having firearms makes you a better servant. "It's better than standing and watching it happen," he says. 'No warnings' At last week's summit, Julia Cowley of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime told the assembled that there are three major categories of violent youth — the mentally ill, the antisocial and the "normal." They have often engaged in behavior that has caused concern for others. In a study of 41 offenders from 37 schools, the findings showed that the violent youth almost always felt bullied. Kip Kinkel, from Cowley's home state of Oregon, said over and over that he had "no choice" when he killed his parents and then shot students. Beware, said Cowley, of the "injustice collector." But school shootings can also result from the angry ex-husband of a faculty member, she reminded the group. In a slide presentation, she showed disturbing drawings done by the offenders. They were often dark and violent, showing the classic violent youth characteristics of narcissism and lack of empathy. They often tell no one beforehand if they are serious about doing the act and may plan it forever. "Eric and Dylan planned their attack for nearly a year and there were no warnings," she said of the Columbine shooters, speaking almost intimately about those in her area of expertise. Matt Gallagher of the FBI's Victim Assistance Program is someone school officials don't want to get to know. His office assisted Virginia Tech after the shootings. Gallagher spoke of the mistakes made there, like when faculty members were counseling one another. This summer, Salem State is refining their plan, talking about resources and grants. Rodriguez is putting in long hours during a relatively quiet time for a college campus. His enthusiasm for the topic of preparing for a school shooting seemingly has no bounds. "We don't want to be caught off guard," he says. "We want to be as prepared as possible. Virginia Tech forced us to take a real hard look at it. We're diligent now." -- Original Source: Boston, MA - Town Online http://www.townonline.com/homepage/x117549697 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0.
Virginia Tech shootings shake the country
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 student on his cell phone. The shaky camera work shows police approaching one building as gunshot after gunshot rings out in the background. "I watched it and I knew exactly where it was," said Ly, who had walked that area on any given morning less than a year ago. Newton resident Theodore Fritz also recognized the buildings photographers captured throughout the day. "I'm certainly transfixed here," said Fritz, a 1961 Virginia Tech graduate who watched television reports throughout the day. A Boston University professor, the killings affected Fritz both as a college educator and as a Virginia Tech alumnus. "I think this probably could have happened anywhere," he said. Former Boston College baseball coach Pete Hughes, who now coaches at Virginia Tech, returned home with his team from a game at Florida State University about 3 a.m. yesterday. Hughes was rousted from bed by the news and immediately began scrambling to track down his players. One was "bunkered down" in the basement of Norris Hall and managed to escape, while three others fled the dorm, he said. Senior Beth Goldberg of Newton said students in lockdown on campus were able to communicate with the outside world by computer. "They seemed pretty calm," Goldberg said. "We didn't realize how bad it was at the time." Ly, who today runs an IT consulting company in Minnesota, said Virginia Tech was really the last place he would expect to see such a slaughter. Ly, who has lived in Chicago and Washington, D.C., repeatedly referred to Blacksburg as a "middle of nowhere" location - a quiet, small town where nothing much happens. "To all the Hokies out there, we're all very touched," Ly said, invoking the school's nickname. Yesterday was not the first time some of Virginia Tech's 25,000 students evacuated classrooms amidst chaos. On Friday, the school canceled classes in three buildings because of a bomb threat, and students fled Torgersen Hall on April 2 after police received a written bomb threat, according to reports from WDBJ in Roanoke, Va., and The Roanoke Times. Last August, the first day of classes was cut short as police searched out William Morva, a 24-year-old escaped convict who killed a security guard and sheriff's deputy at a hospital just two miles from the campus. Ly said he recognized Morva in news reports after the incident. "He was sitting next to me every day in the local coffee shop," Ly recalled. "He would always mumble to himself." "This is really bad news for the university," Ly said. "People are going to start transferring." -- Original Source: The Daily News Tribune - Waltham, Ma. http://www.dailynewstribune.com/local_news/x1650172714 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Massacre of 32 at Virginia Tech shocks alumni in MetroWest
By Danielle Williamson/Daily News staff GHS Tue Apr 17, 2007, 12:07 AM EDT NO DATA - For Bill Saam, the slaughter yesterday at his alma mater resurrected the shock, sadness and anger he felt when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. "On a personal level, the feeling I had today was very much the way I felt on 9/11," said Saam, a Northborough resident and 1992 Virginia Tech graduate. An active member of the college's alumni association, Saam was in touch yesterday with other classmates who struggled to comprehend the news. "It's very much a tight-knit community," he said. "I hope no one from New England is directly affected by this." Saam described Blacksburg as a "small, rural area." "You don't hear about crime down there, never mind shootings," he said. For Milford native Jim Pyne, a 1993 Virginia Tech graduate, yesterday's murders are a sad reflection on the state of society. "We have people who fly planes into buildings ... and screwballs who have guns and shouldn't have them," said Pyne, a former professional football player. "It's the society we live in, and it's just despicable." Pyne, who was an All-American at Virginia Tech and played nine seasons in the NFL, said he watched much of the news yesterday but "couldn't keep watching it. It doesn't seem real." "I've been in all those buildings. I took classes there," Pyne said. "I feel for the parents of the 33 kids and I'm horrified about what happened and what it's like for them." Peter Darby of Charlestown, who leads the New England chapter of Virginia Tech's alumni association, said the Boston area has 1,300 alumni, many of whom were in contact with each other yesterday. "We're stunned just numb," Darby said. For Waltham native Marcus Ly, the shootings were particularly difficult to comprehend. "I called a lot of my friends in Blacksburg. They're all OK," said Ly, a Virginia Tech grad student speaking by phone yesterday from Minneapolis. "But it's just a lot of confusion, they don't really know anything more than we do reading the headlines." A 1995 Waltham High School graduate, Ly finished a graduate school program in industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech last winter. "It's really the equivalent of something like this happening in Weston," said Ly, trying to describe the town of Blacksburg, home to the 2,600-acre Virginia Tech campus. "It's one of the safest cities I've ever lived in and I've lived in a lot of cities." Natick's Chris Mitchell, a junior at Virginia Tech, never imagined such horror could occur on the campus. "It's a small town and a university where everybody knows everybody," Mitchell, an economics major, told WCVB-TV. "It's the last place where you'd think something like this would happen." Newton resident Theodore Fritz recognized the buildings photographers captured throughout the day. "I'm certainly transfixed here," said Fritz, a 1961 Virginia Tech graduate who watched television reports throughout the day. A Boston University professor, the killings affected Fritz both as a college educator and a Virginia Tech alumnus. "I think this probably could have happened anywhere," he said. Danielle Williamson can be reached at 508-490-7475 or dwilliam@cnc.com. Daily News staff writers Albert Breer and Nicole Haley contributed to this story. -- Original Source:Framingham,MA - The MetroWest Daily News http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/local_news/x1298126656 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0.
Las caras inmigrantes de la masacre de Virginia Tech
Publicado por La bloguera en Mayo 2, 2007 04:24 PM La peor masacre escolar en la historia de Estados Unidos, que dejó un saldo de 33 muertos en la Universidad de Virginia Tech, ha generado más interrogantes que respuestas, y mientras la nación está de luto muchos se preguntan cómo afectará ésta tragedia la imagen del inmigrante en este país. La prensa repite constantemente que el asesino, Cho Seung-Hui, emigró de Corea a los 8 años. Antes de sus escalofriantes actos, la historia del joven es similar a la de muchas familias inmigrantes. Sus padres que emigraron buscando un futuro mejor, durante años trabajaron en una lavandería, y seguramente estaban orgullosos que sus hijos fueran a la universidad. Inicialmente, Cho Seung-Hui, fue blanco de las burlas por no saber inglés, pero eventualmente aprendió el idioma, y se podría decir que incluso absorbió los aspectos más violentos de esta sociedad, donde los tiroteos en las escuelas parecen repetirse sin sentido. Ahora sus padres viven "una horrible pesadilla" según un comunicado de la familia que agrega que nunca se imaginaron la capacidad de violencia de su hijo quien "ha puesto a llorar al mundo". Pero esta masacre también tiene otra cara inmigrante que no ha recibido tanta atención de los medios. Las víctimas, los héroes y los dolientes de esta tragedia, también tienen rostro inmigrante y desde Perú, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, India, Líbano, Polonia, Vietnam, Canadá y los Emiratos Arabes Unidos, llegaron para cumplir su sueño americano estudiando o enseñando en Virginia Tech. El profesor Liviu Librescu, nacido en Polonia, se interpuso ante las balas tratando de salvar la vida de sus estudiantes. El maestro bloqueó la puerta del salón, mientras le urgía a sus estudiantes que se tiraran al piso. El estudiante peruano, Daniel Pérez Cueva de 21 años, también murió en el tiroteo. Su madre Betty Cueva lo recuerda como un joven alegre, que sin embargo asumió grandes responsabilidades familiares tras la deportación de su padre a Perú y se pagaba sus estudios para no incomodar a su familia. Juan Ramón Ortiz de Puerto Rico, también fue víctima de la masacre. Su padre, al ser entrevistado desde Puerto Rico, dio un ejemplo de compasión al mundo, al decir entre lágrimas, que también había que orar por la familia del asesino. Al igual que ese fatídico 11 de septiembre, con la masacre en Virginia Tech, los inmigrantes sufren en carne propia las tragedias nacionales, pero a la vez son una parte integral y necesaria para cicatrizar estas heridas y luchar por un mejor país. -- Fuente Original: Los Blogueros - Washington, DC. http://www.losblogueros.net/mt-weblog/2007/05/las_caras_inmigrantes_de_la_ma.html
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 A nutcase shot 32 people and himself in Virginia tech. He was a loner, was obsessed with violence, and left some notes blaming "rich kids" and "debauchery" (that is, disapproved of other people having more money and getting laid more often than himself - which is a rather common human emotion, but most people don't go postal because of it). The university is being blamed for not acting fast enough on the day of the shooting. I don't know if they should be blamed for it - I am sure an investigation will find out, one way or another - but what I would like to know is how come the university did not do anything after the guy harassed a few women and set fire to the dorm. (Maybe there is some good answer to that, too.) The man has also written two plays that the readers found very violent and highly disturbing. Here they are. I have read them and have not found them particularly violent or disturbing: they are rather violent, but I and people I know have written worse without shooting anyone, and they are quite angry in a teenagery way, but nothing really out of ordinary. They would not have rung a warning bell with me. I wonder if that's just me being desensitized to violence, or the people did not really see anything scary about them earlier and are just having a flash of hindsight now, or do the creative writing teachers and students see warnings much more efficiently than ordinary people like myself. There was a lot of conversation of gun control after this. I have no strong opinion on gun control one way or the other, at least as long as it does not interfere with my pistol shooting hobby (and currently in Finland it doesn't), but after seeing several people in the US point out that the gunman could have been stopped earlier if any of the students or teachers had a gun on them, and several of my friends on IRC make fun of this argument, I must say that those people in the US really do have a point: I don't, generally speaking, believe that an armed society is a polite society. It's a tradeoff: on one hand, if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have them, on the other hand it might well be safer when only the serious outlaws have guns than when every teenage hooligan has them. However, if we already are in a state where people are allowed to buy and carry firearms freely, banning guns from a small area like a university campus really will lead to a situation where everyone who is up to no good can have a gun, and no law-abiding citizen will. The worst of both worlds. Posted by Vera at 4/18/2007 12:40:00 PM -- Original Source: Vera's log http://izrailit.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-shooting.html This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License
By Keith Boykin, in politics Tuesday, April 17 2007, 10:24AM The news was gruesome and alarming. Reuters reported that at least 30 people were shot yesterday in a deadly gun rampage that rocked a city once known for its safety and scholarship. By now, you've heard about the story, and many of us have already stopped paying attention. But I'm not talking about the deadly school shooting in Virginia Monday morning. I'm talking about the deadly violence in Iraq that goes on everyday. While most of the world was understandably horrified by the campus shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday, almost no one paid attention to the 30 people who were shot and killed in Baghdad on the same day. The shock and horror of watching such dramatic violence in Virginia immediately resonated with Americans. But here's something else to ponder. What if it happened every day? What if we saw that kind of carnage in our communities every night on the evening news? It sounds far-fetched, but that's exactly the situation that faces many Iraqis almost every day of the year. If the shooting in Virginia tells us anything about human society, it should tell us that violence is far too common in the world. It's not just an American problem or an Iraqi problem, it is a global problem. What kind of world do we live in where young students have virtually unfettered access to sophisticated deadly weapons that can be used to kill their classmates and teachers? And how did we become desensitized to the tens of thousands of civilian casulaties in a war we're still fighting in Baghdad? I don't think it is possible to stop every murder or every killing that takes place in this country or abroad, but I do believe we have a responsibility to promote the conditions for peace. For all the talk about our Christian values in America, we are an extraordinarily violent society. The FBI reported 1.4 million violent crimes in the U.S. in 2005 and more than 16,000 murders. That's a drop from the record high figures in the early 1990s but it shows that we are still far too violent. Through elective wars, capital punishment, gang violence, and media depictions of violence, we demonstrate our collective societal preference for violence as a solution to our problems. I don't know what motivated the young student in Virginia to shoot up his classmates, and I don't know what motivates the suicide bombers in Iraq to blow up their neighbors. But I do know that we have a duty to promote peace in this country and abroad. Imagine the impact that could be made if America lead an international campaign for peace instead of a war on terror. Imagine the goodwill we could generate if we diverted some of the $500 billion we've spent on war in recent years so that we could build hospitals, schools, and housing throughout the undeveloped world. Imagine the difference it might make if our leaders dropped some of the macho rhetoric and talked about service, duty and community responsibility? I know there will be much discussion in the next few days about gun control and mental health counseling and legislation, and I welcome that conversation. But we should also ask ourselves about the world we've created and what each of us can do to make it better and more peaceful. The Virginia shooting was shocking, in part, because it was so unusual. Unlike the Iraqis, we're not accustomed to seeing such large-scale violence on a regular basis. Or, more precisely, we're not accustomed to seeing it here in the United States, because clearly we know it's happening in Iraq. But what if it happened here everyday? That might be the tragic catalyst that would finally inspire us to do something positive and constructive about the violence in our country and the rest of the world. It would be tempting to point to the shooter in Blacksburg and isolate him as the problem. But the problem and the solution don't lie outside of us. They answers are within. -- Original Source: keithboykin.com http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/04/17/what_if_it_happ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0
Many Americans have once again been plunged into terror since a gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history, and a string of endless media reports, the gunman's cruel, merciless confessions and blood shed by 32 victims have further increased the fear of Americans. First of all, it is the fear of guns. As some American resolutely defend or safeguard their rights to own or possess guns conferred by the US constitution, other Americans cannot but have to live in a gloomy shadow at gun points. At present, 35 percent of the American families own their guns, with the existence of some 260 million guns (of which perhaps 60 million are handguns) in the United States. For scores of years, political rifts, rivals and even struggles centered on gun control have never ceased with the repeated occurrence of homicides or murder cases. As the National Rifle Association, or NRA, and other related organizations are so powerful that it was hardly possible for US Congress to pass a bill for the rigid control of guns. Secondly, it is the fear of people and, to be specific, the fear of alien immigrants. Right after the massacre at Virginia Tech, someone immediately came out to direct accusations against a student from the Chinese mainland in press and there was also a reference to a Pakistani. And all sorts of such conjectures and suspicions of Asian immigrants inundated all of sudden overnight in US media and society. Police identified the shooter in the campus killings as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior from South Korea who was in the English Department at Virginia Tech and lived on the campus. Then, the ambassador of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the United States and ROK immigrant groups or societies openly and promptly made their apologies to the American people, and the ROK itself was, too, landed itself in a state of immense restlessness. Apparently, the South Korean immigrants in the U.S. and ROK residents have also felt terrified for the fear of being retaliated against or subjected to retributive punishment. The merging or integration of races in American society has all along a problem. There were repeated voices of "Go home, South Koreans" despite the fact that American media and general public have, in an overall way, retained a "politically correct" composure and quite a few people voiced sympathy for Cho Seung-Hui for the mental illness he had tormented with. In fact, ever since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 in the U.S., the Americans have always been living in terror imposed upon by terrorists. US strategist Zbigniew Brzenzinki censured or criticized the Bush administration for the erroneous policy it had implemented to generate fear in a recent article by capitalizing on a sense of terror among people wrought by 9/11 attacks in the U.S. The war on terror has created a culture of fear in America, he noted, adding that the Bush Administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact in American democracy, on America's psyche and on US standing in the world. "Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against the U.S.," warned Brzenzinski. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to Americans in a ringing phrase that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," which inspired American to cope with terror they endured correctly and thus brought a new style to the US presidency. To date, Americans seem to have been thrown into still greater terrors, though their country has been turned into the sole global superpower. -- Original Source:People's Daily Online, China http://english.people.com.cn/200705/08/eng20070508_372880.html
Chinese woman cited for rescuing US campus students
A Chinese woman assistant professor, or rather a doctoral student at the college of engineering at Virginia Tech, has shed a light onto the campus shooting rampage on April 16, which claimed a toll of 33 lives (including that of the gunman himself). In the past two days, a wise Chinese middle-age lady has been featured in American media, and her name is Haiyan Cheng, who, calm and composed, rescued the lives of students in her class at an extremely precarious situation. When her story was released and publicized, many Americans admired her courage from their bottom of hearts, "Really great, the Chinese." April 16 was a murky day at Virginia Tech when Seung-hui Cho, a young South Korean student, drenched the university compass in bloodbath. In Classroom 206, when students of civil engineering were having their lesson, their professor fell in blood. In Room 207, a German lesson was in session, 10 of a dozen students were shot and killed, in Room 211, a French lesson was in session, there were about 15 casualties out of the 20 students at the class and their professor was massacred ï¿½ï¿½ Meanwhile, in Room 205, the whole class still retained intact as Haiyan Cheng, the assistant professior, was filling in for the professor, who was away at a conference. Cheng, now in her late 30s and the mother of one daughter, came to the United States from the city of Hohhot, northern China in 1998. She obtained a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Michigan Technological University and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Windsor, Canada. She is now working on her PH.D at the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech and concurrently serves as an assistant professor. Cheng arrived at the campus oft Virginia Tech earlier as usual that day (April 16). Her class started at nine o"clock sharp am and went into her office to at 8:50 am to check her emails. When she went into her class at about 9 am, an unexpected tragedy occurred all of sudden shortly afterwards. In an interview with the "Washington Post", she recalled: "At 9:40 am, or 15 minutes before the end of my class, I heard the loud banging outside, very loud outside the classroom, but I could hardly tell where the banging came from, but one thing was certain that we were very close to the source of the banning. I mistook it as construction noise at first. Then came silence, a ten-minute silence, and more pops followed as I turned to the next subject..." A female student sitting at the front row was curious and rose to look around to see what was happening. Chen and that female student went to the door and peered out. It turned out that queer sounds came from Room 208, but no abnormity so far could be seen as its door kept closed. All of a sudden, they saw a man emerge from Room 208 across the hall. He was holding a gun, but it was pointed down. This gave her a start. At this moment, two boy students rushed out from corridors, and the gunman gunned down them immediately. two bullets flashing past Cheng's ears, and they quickly shut the door. "When coming back into the room, she told her students that the situation was in peril and then called every one to crawl onto the ground. One student from India, Zach Petkowicz, who was near the lectern "cowering behind it", realized the door was vulnerable, so proposed propping it up to stop the gunman from entering the room. There was a heavy rectangular table in the class, and she and several of her students pushed it against the door. When sporadic fire shots were heard, Cheng urged her students not to be scared but to hide themselves. No sooner had they fixed it in place than the gunman pushed hard from the outside. He forced it open about six inches, but no farther. He fired two shots through the door. In an e'mail to her friends, she said "we all crawled on the ground and felt very panic when heard the gunman change (cartridge) chargers. People inside the room used mobile phones to report the case to police. The gunman tried hard to open the doors several times but failed and then moved on. But sporadic fire shots did not end. Cheng and her students hid them in the room till they heard sounds of siren from outside the window. These startled students and Cheng stayed behind in the room till everything calmed down outside and heard knocks on the door. They finally verified when Cheng verified those knocked on the door was policeman. When the police were leaving, they told students it was safe then and other fellow policemen would soon arrive soon. And other police came one minute later, students lined up after them and escaped, Cheng acknowledged. Once outside the classroom, Haiyan Cheng saw used cartridges scattered on the ground, She urged her students to run away and not to step onto blood strains. When Cheng heard a female student sobing, she turned round to take her hand and lead her to safety along with other students. As soon as she escaped the danger, she emailed her husband and her research team about her safety. Despite praises lavished upon her, Cheng remained a low profile, saying her students had filled her with pride, and they did very well indeed. They worked together at the critical moment and made the correct decision. She said she felt extremely brtu sorry and appalled about such a tragedy, which posed a terrible nightmare for Virginia Tech. On the evening of April 16, Haiyan Cheng attended a funeral service at Blacksburg Church at the site of Virginia Tech, an Associated Press reporter took a photo of her praying for those who had died in the mass killings, which were used by a number of American media press units. On April 17, Cheng and her husband were shown attending another grand funeral service, The Washington Post carried her story in its websites, which was spread far and wide. People praised her "bravery" and the friend of one reporter referred to her as "the great hero of that classroom', and quite a few netizens said that she had won the honor for the Chinese, and foster their "positive image". Zheng, who however remained sober-minded, referred to herself as as simply "no hero". She said she was simple-minded, and what she was thinking about was only for survive. To be specific, they only did a correct thing, she said. -- Original Source: People's Daily Online, China http://english.people.com.cn/200704/23/eng20070423_368938.html
PD reporter Duan Congcong and PD special report to the UN Headquarters Hou Lingyu
US reports on 'Chinese killer' criticized
The Foreign Ministry yesterday criticized some US media for "irresponsible reports" claiming that the killer in the Virginia Tech shootings was Chinese. Spokesman Liu Jianchao said it was a terrible mistake and a violation of professional ethics to publish reports before checking the facts. Before it was revealed that the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia campus on Monday was a student from South Korea, Michael Sneed, a columnist for Chicago Sun-Times, wrote that the shooter was a 24-year-old man from China. MSNBC, which cited Sneed's story on its website, said he went to the US last year on a student visa issued in Shanghai. Some reports even made public the blog of "Chinese shooter" Jiang Wei'en. But the US police later identified the killer as Cho Seung-hui; and university officials said he was a "troubled" young man on medication for depression. He is believed to have killed himself. Sneed's story was immediately picked up by other media in the United States and Jiang's blog had more than 37,000 visits in a few hours. For those checking the blog hoping to find out the motive behind the shooting spree, Jiang decided to speak up. "Everybody was talking about me as a criminal. I just want to prove my innocence," Jiang told ABC in an interview widely quoted by Chinese websites. "Yes, I am an Asian; I live in a school dorm; I am a student of Virginia Tech; I just broke up with my girlfriend and I love guns. But I am NOT the murderer," he said. Jiang said he received death threats till the time the South Korean student was identified as the killer. Many Chinese students at Virginia Tech are also angered by the US media reports and some said they would write a letter of protest to the Chicago Sun-Times. They pointed specifically to Sneed's story. "The reckless report put pressure on, and tarnished the image of, the Chinese community here in Blacksburg as well as in the US," said the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Virginia Tech (VT-ACSS) in an email to China Daily. VT-ACSS is the largest international organization on campus. There are over 900 Chinese studying in Virginia Tech or working in neighbouring towns. -- Original Source: Xinhua - China Daily http://english.people.com.cn/200704/19/eng20070419_367784.html
Ponderation over shock from US campus shooting rampage
UPDATED: 17:04, April 19, 2007 A total of 33 people, including the gunman Seung-Hui Cho, 23, were killed Monday at Virginia Tech University in the deadiest shooting rampage in modern US history. The whole of the United States is stunned and shocked, and so is the entire world. At the time when people, full of sympathy, are plunged themselves in an extreme sorrow and grief, they cannot but naturally ask such a question: Why it (the shooting rampage) has been again occurred in the U.S., and again in on the campus? In fact, this is not beyond people's expectations, as it is neither the first tragedy, nor the last, because there are two reasons involved: First, the Second Amendment to the US Constitution specifies that the American people are endowered with the "right to keep and bear arms", which cannot be encroached upon. So the sale and purchase of firearms are legal in the United States according to law. Consequently, a large number of American families possess guns. Approximately 200 million guns are owned privately in the U.S., which has a population of 300 million, note relevant statistics released by the US Department of Justice. It has been reported that Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman on the Virginia campus killings, bought his first gun, a 9mm handgun, on March 13 at Roanoke, Va. Gun store, and he timed the purchase of his two firearms to be far enough apart that he would not run afoul of the "one gun a month" law. Why does the United States still not amend its Constitution to ban the use of firearms after a frequent occurrence of mass killings with guns? Almost every shooting rampage is followed by a nationwide debate on whether or not the possession of firearms should be banned. But bills for banning the ownership of guns will not be passed in Congress in the end. This, however, has something to do with the influential and powerful National Rifle Association of America, or NRA. Having a membership of some 3 million that includes arms dealers, rich hunters and firearms fans, the NRA has both money and the vote with a significant impact in both Congressional and presidential elections. Any amendment of the US Constitution has to be rectified with a two-thirds majority at both chambers of US Congress and, therefore, the rigid draft firearms banning code remains a "still born in the womb". And gun owners seem to have some kind of reason, alleging that it is the gunman not the gun that kills people and the guns themselves cannot massacre people automatically. Second, every society is made up of all kinds of people, and an undeniable reality is that a handful of people do not have a "sound" or healthy mind or character and still a small member of people are somewhat in mental disorders. Once these people seize firearms, others will be exposed to an immense threat. Relevant statistics show that close to half the killers have mental problems of some sort and, so for the sake of safeguarding social security, it is a must to reduce or prevent their accesses to firearms. Just imagine how is it possible for the gunman in the campus shooting rampage in Virginia Tech to massacre so many people if he had only a sword or a knife, not two guns in hand? Furthermore, to make an in-depth analysis of its causes, a kind of culture to adore the force has been fostered and spread in the process from the War of Independence in 1776 to the subsequent extension westward in the late 18th century and early 19th centuries. In the meantime, violence and bloodshed scenes have been kept flooding "cowboy" movies and audio and visual products based on high-tech Star wars. This has created notions in minds of kids to worship the force and resort to it to solve problems. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers, aged 17 or 18, killed 12 fellow students and a teacher and wounded 24 others before taking their own lives at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. What they did was solely simulated and designed with meticulous care on audio and visual items to peddle or spread violence and crimes. Seung-Hui Cho, a South Korean American student, has been in the U.S. from a very young age. If he was in South Korea, a nation of his birth instead of the U.S., would a tragedy of such a scale could happen? To date, the entire world has been mourning with a deep grief over victims in the Virginia campus killing rampage, and another round of debate for prohibition of firearms ban is in sight in the United States. If only the loss of 33 precious young lives on the Virginia campus will arouse the awareness and introspection of American statesmen. By People's Daily Online, and its author is Li Xuejiang, a top PD resident reporter in the U.S. -- Original Source: People's Daily Online, China http://english.people.com.cn/200704/19/eng20070419_368006.html
'Gun culture' again target of criticism after killings
UPDATED: 11:01, April 18, 2007 Foreign politicians and media once again attacked America's "gun culture" yesterday. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said tough legislation introduced after a mass shooting in Tasmania in 1996 had prevented the US gun culture emerging in his country. After the shooting Australia imposed laws banning almost all types of semi-automatic weapons. "We showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," said Howard, extending sympathies to the families of the victims at Virginia Tech University. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed their sympathies. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was "shocked" and "saddened," a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said. Along with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, the queen is set to pay a two-day visit to Virginia early next month to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement, her first visit to the United States in 16 years. Iran, at loggerheads with the United States over its nuclear program, spoke out against the killings. "Iran condemns the killing of Virginia university students and expresses its condolences to the families of victims and the American nation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement. European newspapers saw a grim inevitability about the shootings, given the right to bear arms which is enshrined in US constitution. In Italy, the Leftist Il Manifesto newspaper said the shooting was "as American as apple pie". More than 30,000 people die from gunshot wounds in the United States annually and there are more guns in private hands than in any other country. But a powerful gun lobby and support for gun ownership have thwarted attempts to tighten controls. "It would be vain to hope that even so destructive a crime as this will cool the American ardour for guns," the Independent newspaper said in a commentary. Gerard Baker, a columnist for The Times newspaper, feared worse was yet to come: "The truth is that only an optimist would imagine Virginia Tech will hold the new record for very long." France's Le Monde newspaper said such episodes frequently disfigure the "American dream". "The... slaughter forces American society to once again examine itself, its violence, the obsession with guns of part of its population, the troubles of its youth, subjected to the double tyranny of abundance and competition," it wrote. Campaigners in other countries where gun ownership is common expressed fears of a similar massacre. -- Original Source:: China Daily/agencies http://english.people.com.cn/200704/18/eng20070418_367507.html
By Zhang Xin [ 2007-04-24 15:42 ] Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, some people apparently tried to stick it on Korea, or China, or Asia in general, all on the strength of such weak arguments that Cho Seung-Hui was an immigrant from Korea, that he was sometimes (mis)taken as Chinese, or that he's Asian-looking. I read somewhere that a Korean retorted, quite correctly, that Cho left South Korea at the age of eight and spent most of his formative years in the States so they can't possibly stick it on Korea. Cho, who killed 33 people including himself on Virginia Tech campus on Monday, April 16, 2007, was 23. Likewise, you can't stick it on China. At least once Cho was mistaken as Chinese. "In high school, Cho Seung-Hui almost never opened his mouth. When he finally did, his classmates laughed, pointed at him and said: 'Go back to China.'" (Va. Tech shooter a 'textbook killer', Associated Press, April 19, 2007). Nor can you pin it on Asia. After all, almost all East Asians look the same to the less discerning American eye. Whom do we stick it onto, then? If I have to assign blame, I will stick it first on Cho, obviously, then on gun control or the lacks thereof in America, then on pop culture and on society at large. I, for one, believe it is not as far-fetched to blame it on society at large than on a specific target such as Korea. Society at large, you see, both yonder across the oceans and here in this country looks too much up to what is called success but has too little respect for and tolerance of what is considered to be failure. I mean, only by contrast do we tell success from failure. So theoretically for society as a whole, these two are equally important - we should therefore reserve a degree of respect for those who fail, who come up short but also run. School bullies, for example, pick on practically anyone who's not regarded as "one of us". You may get glared at, jeered and sneered at for one of these perfectly harmless "crimes" - that you come from another country (or another province for that manner), that you don't get ushered to school by a sedan car, that you speak a non-local dialect, that you have an odd accent, that you have a physical disability or simply a harelip, that you have a mental problem.... The list goes on and on. In the mainstream society of one-upmanship, pop culture craves for bringing up heroes (American Idol, or the Super Girl in China) and in the process create as a by product victims and villains, of whom Cho is but a latest and most disturbing example. No doubt, blaming it on society at large is in vain. Cho himself tried to do it, and what consequences did he come to? Cho argued in his manifesto, sent to the NBC in between the murders, that he was out to avenge rich "brats" with had their "Mercedes", "gold necklaces", "cognac" and "trust funds". But he had no argument, really - none of the above justifies the shootings. But, as a lesson, we as individuals need to be constantly reminded of the social callousness we often displays toward the weak and underprivileged. In the same time society advocates winning, it'd best advocate also tolerance and understanding towards losing. By all means win, but please maintain a healthy respect for those who fall behind. It's called "live and let live". In this age of wealth and profligacy in many places, we instead may advocate "thrive but let survive". -- Original Source:Chinadaily.com http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-04/24/content_858747.htm
Sepultan en Puerto Rico a víctima de matanza en Virginia Tech
BAYAMÓN | AP Abril 24, 2007 Tras una ceremonia en la que nadie quiso hablar de la matanza que cobró su vida, el estudiante puertorriqueño de la Universidad Virginia Tech Juan Ramón Ortiz Ortiz fue sepultado este martes en un funeral privado. En lugar de hablar de su muerte, sus amigos y familiares prefirieron hablar de su vida. Fue lo más cercano a la perfección, expresó Jesús Ortega sobre su amigo desde la infancia. Ortiz Ortiz fue una de las 32 personas que mató Cho Seung-Hui, un estudiante de literatura inglesa de 23 años de edad, antes de suicidarse con una pistola el lunes de la semana pasada. Juan fue un árbol que dio fruto a temprana edad: benignidad, paciencia, justicia y amor. Celebremos hoy la vida que con tan sólo 26 años Juan compartió con nosotros, dijo el profesor Amado Vélez, de la Universidad Politécnica donde estudió el joven. Vélez destacó que la timidez del joven era opacada por sus acciones: Hablaban más de lo que la alocución podía decir. Durante los actos fúnebres, los padres del joven ingeniero acompañaron en todo momento a la viuda Liselle Vega Cortés, quien también se encontraba en Virginia Tech al momento de la masacre. El trío permaneció silencioso y en aparente calma durante la triste jornada de despedida, en la que amigos como Ortega volvieron a sonreír al recordar el amor de Ortiz Ortiz por el ritmo de salsa, al que dedicó parte de su vida. Era tan fanático de la salsa que una vez... puso música de salsa (en el automóvil) y se llenó de tanta alegría que se bajó del carro y bailó en el mismo medio de la acera, relató Ortega. Para el párroco de la Iglesia San José, José María Almendariz, la muerte de Ortiz Ortiz fue inexplicable. No hay ninguna explicación humana para el dolor que no sea mirando a Cristo, expresó a los más de 200 amigos y familiares que abarrotaron la Iglesia San José de Bayamón, a las afueras de San Juan. La matanza de Virginia Tech ha sido considerada la peor masacre estudiantil en la historia contemporánea de Estados Unidos. -- Fuente Original: El Universo.com - Guayaquil, Ecuador http://www.eluniverso.com/2007/04/24/0001/14/E53E61E6CC9C4BA6A5C38563C829AFA0.aspx
José Darío Maldonado Jefe Unidad de Negocios Internet DIARIO EL UNIVERSO jmaldonado@eluniverso.com
Cho Seung-Hui: lecciones para la educación
Creado por Luis Guerrero Ortiz Lima, 22 de Abril de 2007 3:00 PM Los hechos son por todos conocidos. Cho Seung-Hui, un estudiante sudcoreano de 23 años, entró el lunes 16 de abril en los dormitorios de la Universidad Virginia Tech, en Estados Unidos, y mató a 32 personas antes de suicidarse. En el Perú, los escolares y aún los jóvenes que continúan estudios no tienen el fácil acceso a armas de fuego que sí poseen sus pares en Norteamérica. Ese acceso libre y legalizado es considerado hoy como una de las causas principales de la masacre. ¿Lo es en verdad? En una reciente encuesta, casi la mitad de los estadounidenses cree que las leyes sobre armas deberían ser más estrictas y el 87% afirma que la violencia asociada a su uso es un problema muy serio para su país. Un tercio de ellos admite tener una en casa. También se culpa a las autoridades por no haber hecho lo necesario para detectar y reprimir a tiempo a quien consideran un desquiciado, un anormal, un loco, más aún cuando ha salido a luz su paso por un hospital psiquiátrico y su probable consumo de antidepresivos. Por eso las soluciones que hoy se promueven pasan por la restricción legal a la venta de armas, el fortalecimiento de los servicios psicológicos en los centros de estudios y, probablemente, por una mayor severidad en la selección de los postulantes, lo que podría significar barreras especiales para el ingreso de inmigrantes, como Cho. Es posible que Cho Seung-Hui, en el extremo de sus perturbaciones, haya difuminado los límites de la realidad, derribando las mínimas inhibiciones que suelen impedir a cualquier mortal pasar del odio o el rechazo -por muy justificado que fuese su origen- al acto criminal. Pero Cho era, ante todo, un inmigrante pobre. Se sabe que llegó con su familia de Corea del Sur en 1992, procedente de una zona muy pobre de Seúl, para habitar en los suburbios de Washington. Hasta entonces, no parece haber mostrado señales de locura. «Nunca podría haberme imaginado que él fuera capaz de tanta violencia -dijo uno de sus familiares. El fue alguien con quien crecí y a quien amé. Ahora me siento como si no hubiera conocido a esta persona». En otras palabras, si acaso habitaba un Mr. Hyde en el joven Cho, parece haberse despertado en Norteamérica. Cabe preguntarse entonces, de Seúl a Washington ¿Qué cambió en la vida de este joven para haber oscurecido su mente de ese modo y haber llenado de tanto odio su corazón? Sus compañeros ponen el problema en él y lo definen como un sujeto extraño, callado, solitario y perturbado, que casi no hablaba con ellos ni los miraba a los ojos. Pero Cho, desde la otra orilla, ha dejado un testimonio distinto. «Me han acorralado en una esquina y me han dejado sólo una opción, la decisión fue de ustedes» dijo en un video póstumo, para preguntarse después «¿Saben lo que se siente ser humillado y crucificado?». Más allá de cualquier hecho objetivo -la decisión de apretar el gatillo fue solo suya en sentido estricto- este joven, que le gustaba firmar documentos e identificarse con un signo de interrogación, se percibía a sí mismo como un excluido. ¿Qué tiene que ocurrir para que un estudiante solitario, atrapado en su soledad, su angustia y su depresión, pase a ser algo más que un alumno o, en el peor de los casos, un raro, en las impersonales rutinas académicas de su centro de estudios? Si la pregunta fuese hecha en los Estados Unidos, la respuesta sería casi obvia: asesinar a sus profesores y a sus compañeros. Pero si nos lo preguntáramos desde aquí, donde el acceso a armas de fuego está más restringido y la banalización de la muerte relativamente menos instalada en la cultura ¿cuáles podrían ser sus opciones? Si Cho Seung-Hui hubiese sido alumno de una universidad peruana o de algún Instituto Superior Pedagógico o quizás, con menor edad, de algún colegio secundario, pudo haber abandonado los estudios a mitad de camino y perderse en la bruma de los desocupados sin instrucción o a lo mejor terminarlos sin pena ni gloria. Pudiera ser que con calificaciones aceptables, pero con todo su dolor, su confusión y su rabia a cuestas, para integrarse a la enorme masa de anónimos desempleados con certificación académica y dudosas cualidades para desempeñarse con un mínimo de competencia y de salud mental en su vida de pareja, en la crianza de sus propios hijos o en su actividad laboral. Ocurre que los sistemas educativos están diseñados en principio para hacerse cargo del alumno, no de la persona. En el caso del nuestro y a juzgar por los resultados, lo primero lo hace muy mal, pero no lo puede eludir. Lo segundo, simplemente lo ignora o lo delega a algún tutor, cuando éste existe. Hace siete años, una joven y carismática maestra de primaria, en su primer año de ejercicio profesional, abrumada por la confianza de sus pequeños alumnos, que no dejaban de buscarla en el recreo para compartir con ella un sinnúmero de problemas de orden familiar, decidió prohibirles que le hablen de temas ajenos a la clase. «Yo me preparé para ser maestra, no psicóloga, no tengo por qué hacerme cargo de sus asuntos personales», admitió con escalofriante honestidad. Como ella, más allá de las cualidades que exhiban en la enseñanza, son muchos los docentes que no se sienten en condiciones de atender ni de entender la subjetividad de sus estudiantes ni, finalmente, en la obligación de hacerlo. De este modo, la idea de que educar es más que instruir y que supone principalmente la formación humana, como consta en el célebre Informe de Jacques Delors, en los acuerdos internacionales sobre educación, en el currículo oficial y hasta en las propias leyes nacionales, termina siendo en los hechos una extravagancia, una penosa humorada. Pero hay algo más. El sistema también está diseñado para que los aprendizajes constituyan un asunto estrictamente individual, basado en un contrato personal de la familia o del alumno con la institución educativa. Lo que significa, en la mejor tradición liberal, que el éxito o el fracaso de cada estudiante son el problema o el mérito de cada uno, donde los demás no tienen absolutamente nada que ver. De este modo y con mayor razón, los síntomas del sufrimiento de un joven como Cho Seung-Hui, evidentes antes que se produjeran los hechos, eran estrictamente un asunto suyo, a lo más de su familia, pero no una convocación a la solidaridad de sus profesores ni de sus propios compañeros de clase. Todo indica que tales señales no pasaron desapercibidas, pero todos eligieron continuar con sus vidas. Hasta que él, decidió terminar con ellas. En nuestro medio, la exclusión no tiene que ver sólo con el no acceso a un centro de estudios, sino con el prejuicio y la discriminación que se vive a su interior con insólita naturalidad. Excluidos son los estudiantes censurados y estigmatizados a diario, abierta o solapadamente, por ser pobres, por tener padres que no fueron al colegio, por pertenecer a una familia campesina, por ser los últimos de varios hermanos o hijos únicos de madres sin cónyuge, por ser además tímidos y callados o susceptibles y asertivos, por tomarse su tiempo para entender y para terminar la tarea, por haber repetido de grado, por tener su propio criterio de orden, por hablar de un modo distinto o en un idioma diferente, por haber nacido en una provincia alejada y «extraña», por expresar su desagrado cada vez que se sienten agredidos por un adulto o, simplemente, por razonar con una lógica a veces opuesta a la de sus mayores y llegar a conclusiones distintas. La experiencia de la discriminación los convierte en objeto de sospechas, rechazos y atribuciones antojadizas, de vacíos y murmuraciones, de aislamientos y desaires, de indiferencia y segregación, sea por sus compañeros o por sus propios maestros. ¿Qué hacen todos ellos con el dolor, la ira, la tristeza, el desconcierto o la impotencia que esta situación les provoca? Algunos constituyen pandillas y reaccionan con violencia, pero muchos se limitan a callarse y a expresar la frustración de otra manera, convirtiéndose en saboteadores crónicos, en nihilistas irreductibles o en durísimos jueces de sí mismos. No compran armas ni disparan contra nadie, pero sí les retiran la fe, a la gente, al sistema y hasta a la imagen que les devuelve el espejo. Como Cho, sin embargo, son vistos como anormales y tratados, por lo general, como amenazas. Los malos aprendizajes que exhiben nuestras escuelas nos han llevado a la necesidad de exigir mayor efectividad en la enseñanza, mejor calidad en la docencia, controles más sistemáticos de los resultados del servicio educativo y de las políticas diseñadas para mejorarlo. La pobreza de nuestras escuelas nos han llevado a exigir, además, mayor inversión educativa, una distribución mas justa del gasto y una compensación más efectiva y sostenida de las evidentes desigualdades. Todo eso está bien, pero... ¿Cuánto pesa en los bajos rendimientos que exhibe nuestro sistema la escasísima confianza que deposita en las posibilidades de éxito de sus estudiantes? ¿Cuánto pesa el prejuicio, la subestimación, el menosprecio? ¿Cuánto pesa la incapacidad de las instituciones educativas para hacer sentir incluidos a los que se van quedando atrás y para comprometerse con seriedad a no dejar fracasar a ninguno? ¿Cuánto pesa en la desmoralización de muchos la impersonalidad del ambiente en que se estudia a diario, el anonimato implacable, la rigidez de las normas o la desvergonzada ley del embudo aplicada con impunidad cada vez que conviene? La tragedia de Virginia Tech nos recuerda que los usuarios de los sistemas educativos son seres humanos, susceptibles de hacer «corto circuito» cuando las condiciones en que estudian los colocan en situaciones límite. Si las políticas dirigidas a mejorar la educación no son pensadas como una oportunidad para humanizar la enseñanza y no sólo para elevar los rendimientos, las sensibilidades se van a seguir desbordando y erosionándose la confianza en sí mismos de toda una generación. -- Fuente Original: El río de Parménides -Sitio en linea http://educhevere.blogspot.com/2007/04/cho-seung-hui-lecciones-para-la.html Derechos Reservados: Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 2.5 Perú.
Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 2.5 Perú
Tributo para las victimas de la Tragedia de Virginia Tech
Placa donada por la organización de estudiantes Mexicanos en Virginia Tech y el Consulado Mexicano en Washington, DC. Esta placa fue entregada el pasado 11 de mayo del 2007 en señal de respeto y cariño hacia las victimas que fallecieron en los trágicos eventos del pasado 16 de Abril del 2007. Foto cortesía de Jorge Daniel Moncada de la Rosa A talabera plate donated as a tribute for the students and faculty injured at the April 16, shootings. This donation was sponsored by the Mexican student's organization at Virginia Tech and the Mexican Consulate at Washington, DC as a gesture of love and respect for the victims. Photo courtesy of Jorge Daniel Moncada de la Rosa
Organizacion de Estudiantes Mexicanos en Virginia Tech
Jorge Daniel Moncada de la Rosa Presidente de la Asociacion de Mexicanos moncada@vt.edu