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A Facebook message I received on April 18th from a girl with my same name who attends school in California: Dear Aislynn, This may be a lame attempt to bridge some sort of metaphysical gap with a complete stranger, but here goes. I am a world away from you, here in California where the sun was shining bright and unassuming overhead on the day that terror ravaged your campus. There were murmurs of violence by midmorning, but by the hours of the late afternoon, everyone knew. I don't have anything else to say other than I don't know what to do with myself as the hours continue onward - everything I worried about yesterday seems too trivial for words... I can't imagine how you feel or the aftershock of the cataclysmic events you and your peers endured yesterday. I just feel as if nothing is real- except for Virginia Tech. I do not know you, or anyone who lost their life in yesterday's events. But there is something profound I feel - my thoughts and prayers are with you and your peers. I feel very small knowing of the devastation that must grip you, but not actually being able to empathize, to begin to conceive such momentous grief. You and your peers- all those who are broken as a result of yesterday's events- you are in my heart and on my mind constantly. Nothing else is as important as the profound and enduring message of love and human camaraderie. From me to you, across the country, I send all of my love and support. I realize these are intangible sentiments, but they are all I have to offer. Love, Aislynn A message from a girl I went to high school with: aislynn- lately, you've been on my heart a lot and i have been meaning to get ahold of you to see how you are, but as lame as an excuse as it is, i've been busy with school. today i went over to tech and visited the tent on the drill field, as i was going around i caught sight of a coffee cup with message on it that was just heartbreaking. i thanked God for not letting this person be harmed and though how hard it must be for the person who wrote it and how confused they must be. and then i saw that it had been written by you. and i lost it. i want you to know that i am so thankful that you were not in norris. i want you to also know that i know your heart is weary as is mine and that it is ok to be confused and sad. you're are such a wonderful person aislynn!! i love you soo soo much and miss you like crazy. i met karla at young life camp about two years ago and she said she knew you and i thought that was so great because i remembered having drivers ed together and how much lame fun we had :) if you need anything, please let me know. i'm praying. peace, logan
Cho's Violent Crusade Ripped from the Middle Ages
As a medieval historian, one rarely feels that his expertise can shed some light on a current debate. But I teach at Virginia Tech. Now that the semester is over and there is time to reflect, I have been struck by how "medieval" the events of this past April seem -- both Seung-Hui Cho's violence and our collective revulsion to it. In the snippets of Cho's "manifesto" that have been released to the public, there is rhetoric of (likely imagined) persecution of the innocent, violent defense of the helpless, and Cho's perception of himself as a martyr by appropriating explicitly Christian imagery -- Jesus himself, the cross, and even the torments the saints endured for their faith (burning like St. Polycarp, suffocating like St. Cecilia and beheading like St. Denis, etc.). Even Cho's oft-repeated statement that "Jesus loves crucifying me" reinforces the idea of martyrdom, suggesting, as countless biographies of the saints have, that God triumphs through the martyr's sacrifice. Taken alone, these statements might be interesting from a purely academic standpoint. Unfortunately, we all know what followed Cho's statements. So, it's this combination of language and action that's most "medieval," since the essential elements of Cho's manifesto mirror Pope Urban II's speech at Clermont (in modern France) in 1095 that launched the First Crusade. From what we can reconstruct of that speech, Urban first railed against the sins of his listeners. But then, when the hellfires beckoned, Urban offered them a way out -- a path to heaven. Go to Jerusalem. Reclaim the land where Jesus was crucified and where he would return in triumph. This land rightfully belongs to us, Urban continued, so emulate the suffering of Christ and "take up [your] cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Defend your fellow Christians who suffer under (an imagined) oppression by God's enemies. Become a "soldier of Christ" and destroy "the enemy." God would reward you with martyrdom if you died. Jesus. The cross. Suffering. Martyrdom. Defense of the innocent. Violence. Cries of "God wills it!" rang through the crowd. More than 100,000 people, many of whom had never left their village, decided to walk the 4,000 miles to Jerusalem. Again, we all know what came next. It's important to note that neither of the events of 1095 or 2007 "just happened." There are explanations, even if they're not comfortable ones. Urban's message met a receptive audience because long-held ideas and traditions in the West came together just so. So too with Cho. He created a mental world, which only rarely touched reality, drawn from our culture's obsession with violence and guns as well as a radical Christianity, likely generated by his upbringing and continued interest in the religion, witnessed by the number of courses on religious topics that he took here at Tech. This particular Christianity isn't unlike that unleashed during the First Crusade, even if such language of violence can still be found at places in our own, modern society. Cho's mental world divided everything between good and evil and called for the oppressed to rise and take vengeance. Cho's mental illness made him cross a line and act upon these ideas. Unfortunately, it did not generate the ideas themselves, though. But just as Cho was, in a way, an heir to the ideas of the First Crusade, so too are the rest of us for, in addition to violence and intolerance, the First Crusade was also about peace -- true, lasting peace. As conceived in 1095, the violent reconquest of Jerusalem would hasten the arrival of God's kingdom on Earth, an earthly paradise in which all would share. Later in the Middle Ages, the influential thought of Joachim of Fiore changed this tradition, stripping away the violence that preceded this kingdom, saying that all would peacefully -- peacefully -- come together. And just as Urban's vision has endured, so too has Joachim's. The world, without hesitation, now condemns actions like Cho's. Violence is not normative anymore. If nothing else, the Middle Ages show us how the intellectual path we're on isn't the only one available. In 1095, 100,000 people thought that violence could bring peace. In 2007, Cho believed the same and the world cried out in horror. Cho took one path from 1095 and the vast majority took the other. In and of itself, and in the middle of all this sadness, this is a reason to look forward with hope. -- Originally published in _The Roanoke Times_, 6/2/07 Source: http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-119117
Cho's World was rooted in a Christian Tradition
In the Aug. 26 Roanoke Times, reporter Duncan Adams had a news story that succinctly wrapped up what we knew about Seung-Hui Cho at that point, before the Virginia Tech Independent Review Panel released its final report. The article, "There was something evil aiding him," answered some old questions and highlighted some that have yet to be answered. What really struck me, as a medievalist and researcher in the history of religion, was the section titled "Demon spirits" and specifically the comments of Pastor Dong Cheol Lee from One Mind Church in Cho's hometown of Woodbridge. Cho and his family didn't attend that church, but the pastor felt compelled to reach out to Cho on the recommendation of a neighbor. Lee believes Cho was basically a good person but that he was possessed by the devil or some sort of "demonic spirit" when he murdered all those people. This raises a significant point, one thus far generally overlooked in the reporting about the events of April 16 -- the role of religion in motivating Cho to do what he did. I suggested this in a June 6 commentary, "Cho's violent crusade ripped from the Middle Ages." Look again through this and the rest of the coverage of Cho's manifesto. Look how often he evoked God/Jesus. And look again at these new snippets: the Bible as Literature class that he felt so "content" in, his contact with a particular type of Christianity during his upbringing, how he told the literature professor, Nikki Giovanni, she was going to hell. Reporter Adams may have been more right than he knew when he ended his story with: "During one session, Giovanni described having once eaten turtle soup. Students shared experiences of consuming other unusual animal fare. Cho's poem the next week lashed Giovanni and the class. 'He told us we were going to hell,' said [fellow student Tara] Marciniak-McGuire. During Cho's short, tortured life, he knew that territory well." Cho's mental illness made him live in a world of his own creation, but that world was one with recognizable roots in the Christian tradition -- a world populated by God and the devil, in which they are both still active forces in the world; a world where Cho could choose sides in this struggle and think that he was doing God's work; a world where violence in the name of religion is justified because the stakes, one's immortal soul, are so high. Cho likely thought himself to be a "soldier of Christ," like the crusaders; like the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda; like Eric Rudolph and Paul Jennings Hill, who killed to stop abortion. Mainstream Christianity does not -- and the vast majority of Christians may not -- condone such actions, but perhaps it's time to stop burying our head in the sand, pretending that such ideas aren't ultimately understandable, if still unfortunately familiar. -- Originally published in The Roanoke Times, 9/11/07 Source: http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-131592
University Libraries continues its work to build the archives of thousands of artifacts related to April 16 tragedy
By Mark Owczarski BLACKSBURG, Va., February 1, 2008 -- Virginia Tech's University Libraries is working with the university community and is guided by consultants from the Library of Congress to establish the archives for materials related to the tragic events of April 16, 2007. The research archives will provide primary source materials on how people grieve and offer consolation after a major tragedy. They will provide long-term access and preservation of relevant materials in analog and digital formats. Work to establish the archives of the millions of artifacts received by the university began in the days following April 16, explained Tamara Kennelly, university archivist and librarian who is leading the project. University librarians consulted with colleagues at other universities who developed archives after tragic events at their institutions, including Syracuse University, Ny. (the loss of 35 students following the crash of Pan Am 103 caused by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988), Bluffton University, Ohio (a bus accident that killed five members of the their baseball team in 2007), Oklahoma State University (a plane crash that killed members of its basketball program in 2001), and Texas A&M University (12 students were killed and 27 were injured during the construction of a bonfire pile). "The team from the Library of Congress came to Blacksburg within weeks of the tragedy to witness all the displays, all the materials that were pouring into campus," said Kennelly. "They needed to get a better sense of the scope of the project." Eileen Hitchingham, dean of University Libraries, asked people on campus who found themselves working in some way with post tragedy events to come together in order to facilitate further cooperation and collaboration. "We wanted to ensure that all of us were working together," said Kennelly. "Virginia Tech's Center for Digital Discourse and Cultures' April 16 archive and 'DLVT416: A Digital Library Test Bed for Research Related to 4/16/2007 at Virginia Tech' were just some of the departments on campus we wanted to make sure were concerned with the long-term preservation of the materials they collected." Since the summer, the University Libraries has worked with University Unions and Student Activities (UUSA) to organize the many condolences received by the university. These items came from all 50 states and around the world. "We estimate that the university received over 87,000 items expressing condolence," said Kennelly. "This includes thousands of cranes (33,000 cranes were received in one lot) and thousands more cards and letters. This is in addition to the thousands of items distributed through the student union in the days after the shootings." Under the direction of Greg Beecher, UUSA's associate director of administrative services, UUSA organized a building-wide display in Squires Student Center of condolences received. Thousands of stuffed toys, wristbands, ornaments, cranes, cards, cookies, and other gifts were distributed to the university community at the student center. A large team of volunteers organized by Steve Estrada tagged each item received. In June 2007, a temporary site was established at Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center to process items in what is now informally referred to as the "Prevail Archives." A database was constructed to log in metadata about materials received by the university. Digital images were taken of these items and will be available online through a timely but temporary arrangement with Rutgers University, N.J. Gail McMillan, director of Virginia Tech's Digital Library and Archives, is heading up this digital archive. "In addition to being a tremendous source of support and strength for the university community, these items are a rich source of material about how we express grief and the effect this tragedy has had on people around the world," said Kennelly. "There are materials that would be of research interest not only to sociologists but also to students of popular culture. Paula Cushing, department chair and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Joann Brennan, chair of visual arts at the University of Colorado, Denver, have inquired about borrowing some items from the archive for an exhibit case showing ways people memorialize the deceased." "In addition to planning for the permanent collection," Kennelly said, "we also are planning to have a traveling collection that might visit different venues." Items selected for the permanent collection will be appropriately organized, preserved, and housed in a climate-controlled environment, said Kennelly. The items will also be described in a finding aid that will be made available through the University Libraries' Special Collections website and the Virginia Heritage Project. Once the collection has been processed, the physical collection will be available through the Special Collections Reading Room on the first floor of Newman Library. Aaron Purcell is the director of special collections. For more information about the collection, e-mail Kennelly or call (540) 231-9214. Contact Mark Owczarski at maowczar@vt.edu or (540) 231-5223. ##08054## -- Original Source: Virginia Tech News http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=57
Alum receives probation for 'maliciously conveying false information'
By Anita Pere Staff writer Baylor alumnus David Paul Cunningham, who in May threatened to destroy various buildings on Baylor's main campus, received three years of probation Thursday in a U.S. district court. According to his attorney, Vik Deivanayagam, Cunningham, 34, was able to avoid prison time due to mental instability stemming from a serious head injury incurred while playing rugby at Baylor. Cunningham faced a total of 20 years in prison for two felony counts of "maliciously conveying false information." On May 1, Cunningham called a Baylor switchboard operator and told her he planned to place diesel drums in the basements of every building at Baylor, according to court records. Cunningham said he would take this action in response to his perceived involvement of Baylor in the Virginia Tech shootings. The Baylor Police Department was able to trace the call to a hotel room in Tyler, Cunningham's hometown. The next day, Cunningham called Baylor Police Chief Jim Doak, threatening bodily harm. Again, he mentioned the Virginia Tech incident. The call was traced to the same hotel room. The Tyler Police Department arrested Cunningham later that day. "The justice system worked as it is supposed to," Doak said of the sentencing. According to an article appearing in the Waco Tribune-Herald, Deivanayagam was able to convince U.S. District Judge Walter J. Smith Jr. that Cunningham did not grasp the levity of these threats and did not plan on carrying them out. Deivanayagam said Cunningham was more or less "blowing off some steam." Also in the article, Cunningham apologized to Judge Smith and said, "I just don't have a lot of tact in dealing with police enforcement." Cunningham wrapped up his court statement by saying he wanted to see the elephants at the zoo in Tyler. According to Baylor Lariat archives, Cunningham was kneed in the head during a scrimmage against the University of Texas in 1995. Cunningham suffered a concussion, a broken nose and a skull fracture. He missed two weeks of school and his injuries required cosmetic surgery. Cunningham graduated the next spring with a degree in engineering. He was expelled for undisclosed reasons as a graduate student in 2001 -- Original Source: The Lariat http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=47982
Julie Freeman (Julie_Freeman@baylor.edu)
Aug. 28, 2007 The article "Students fight for guns on campus" by Claire St. Amant was amazing. I feel she showed the views of both sides without offending either. With that said, I noticed the editorial "Gun groups gone wrong." This editorial has obviously come from a person who has not adequately researched into concealed handguns and the lawful use of them. Each year over 170,000 crimes are deterred by law abiding, licensed people who use their weapons without firing a single shot. Sometimes it's the mere thought of a weapon being present that can deter the crime. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is not saying that those with concealed handgun licenses should be vigilantes. During our courses, we are taught how to respond not only if we are forced as a last resort to pull the trigger, but also how to react with police officers under any under circumstances. I don't want to give the wrong impression when I say this, but even if Baylor police could afford to employ more officers, they can't always protect us. There was an instance within a year prior of Virginia Tech at Appalachian Law School. A shooter entered into the school and began shooting. Two students who were following the state laws of "no guns on campus" ran to their vehicles and broke the law to save the lives of their fellow students. They apprehended the shooter and waited for police to arrive to arrest the shooter. There was a similar situation in Pennsylvania where a vice principal of a junior high saved his students' lives. A madman entered the school with a shotgun and began shooting; the vice principal ran to his truck to retrieve his pistol. He returned to stop the shooter from injuring any more of his students. Yes, our current system can be improved. In the instance of the Virginia Tech shooter, he was let through a loophole that Virginia had set up. I agree that certain people should not be allowed to own or even touch a firearm. Texas has laws in place that make it a felony. SCCC bases its views off of statistics and reports that we have collected worldwide. Our information proves that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry weapons into areas significantly reduces crime. In the U.S. it deters approximately 15 percent of all crimes and 30 percent of violent crimes. We are asking that our respective states allow the most law-abiding citizens, with a crime rate of less than 0.001 percent, to be allowed to continue defending ourselves. SCCC understands two things among many: one is that "gun -free zones" in America are false comforts that have given us some of our nation's worst tragedies and two, that allowing law abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons reduces crimes and equals the playing field. We are not countering against or trying to be a replacement for law enforcement. Those with concealed handgun licenses are a crime deterrent, practicing one of their rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Andrew Sugg Aviation Sciences, 2008 -- Original Source: The Lariat http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46485