Hero Librescu's son addresses Hotnews.ro readers
description: Joseph (Joe) Librescu, the son of Liviu Librescu, the teacher who protected his students at the cost of his own life in the Virgina Tech killing spree yesterday, sent a heart-felt message to all Hotnews.ro readers. "I am professor Librescu's son and I want to thank all those who wrote such beautiful notes about him", the letter reads. "Even though he left the country for a long time, he never forgot its beauty. We were supposed to meet in Predeal this summer, for a family reunion. Once again I want to thank you for all the beautiful things you wrote about him". Professor Liviu Librescu's gesture was widely commented on in the Romanian and international media. First announced on the Virginia Tech official site, the story soon reached the HotNews.ro English version, and was quoted by the blogs at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statemanship and Political Philosphy. An Associated Press article was almost instantly quoted by all international media. CNN, The Times, The New York Times and Haaretz are just a few of the TV stations and newspapers that brought an hommage to the lost professor. Romanian media ware just as present as the international ones: "Romanian hero in mourning America", Evenimentul Zilei reads on the first page; "The Hero", is the simple and powerful title in Jurnalul National. "Romanian hero at Virginia Tech", reads Cotidianul. "Romania origin hero", is the headline in Romania Libera and so on. HotNews.ro, Apr 18, 2007 -- Original Source: http://english.hotnews.ro/Hero-Librescu%27s-son-addresses-Hotnews.ro-readers-articol_44751.htm
creator: HotNews.ro
date: 2007-06-12
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: Cristian Pantazi (cristian.pantazi@hotnews.ro)
language: eng

Va. Tech victims remembered by candlelight
description: Students and community members gather at MemChu to reflect, pray April 19, 2007 By Rahul Kanakia Several hundred Stanford community members gathered yesterday evening at a Memorial Church service for the 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty who were slain Monday by a gunman. Deans of Religious Life Rev. Scotty McLennan and Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann presided over the service. "We come together as religious and non-religious people. As faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends, we are all part of one community here at Stanford University," McLennan said. "Many of us have been overcome with feelings of shock, sorrow, fear, incomprehension, anger and hopelessness since Monday, all mixed up together. We come here to offer all of that up in prayer and contemplation and thoughtful reflection." As Karlin-Neumann read the names of the dead, McLennan rang a bell. The tone hung in the air after each name, fading almost to silence before Karlin-Neumann read the next name. Some attendees looked upwards, some stared at the floor, while others fixed their eyes on the front of the church. Alyssa Battistoni '08 said she lost a good friend from high school, Daniel O'Neil, who was an environmental engineering graduate student at the Blacksburg, Va. university. "I don't know," she said. "I wasn't really there, to tell you the truth. I was just thinking about how much it all sucks. He just got married, my friend Dan." After the service, Takeo Rivera '08 drew parallels between the victims' lives at Virginia Tech and student life at Stanford. "Their lives were cut tragically short," he said. "And that all sounds cliche and such. But the fact that it happened on a college campus makes it all so real. For instance, one of the victims was an RA, and I'm an RA. It was one of those things where you kind of reflect on your own mortality." Calley Means '08, a Washington, D.C. resident who was at the service because many of his friends at Virginia Tech lost friends in the attack, said he …
creator: Rahul Kanakia
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

UVA Vigil
description: A vigil for Virginia Tech, at the University of Virginia on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463699620/ Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Geary
creator: Charlotte Geary
date: 2007-06-08
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Charlotte Geary http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463699620/
language: eng

UVA
description: A vigil for Virginia Tech, at the University of Virginia on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463708138/ Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Geary
creator: Charlotte Geary
date: 2007-06-08
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Charlotte Geary http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463708138
language: eng

UVA Vigil
description: A vigil for Virginia Tech, at the University of Virginia on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463708130/ Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Geary
creator: Charlotte Geary
date: 2007-06-08
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Charlotte Geary http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlottegeary/463708130/
language: eng

Vigil for VTech @ Mason
description: Last night, a vigil was held at George Mason for those lost in the terrible tragedy on Monday at Virginia Tech. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wirelessnic/466573792/ Photo Courtesy of Nicolas Tan
creator: Nicolas Tan
date: 2007-06-08
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission: Nicolas Tan http://www.flickr.com/photos/wirelessnic/466573792/
language: eng

Dr. John MacArthur discusses Virginia Tech Shootings (April 20, 2007)
description: 64Kbps MP3 13.6M Executive Director of GTY [Grace to You] Phil Johnson has an open conversation with Dr. John MacArthur about the shootings at Blacksburg, VA. Does the Christian faith offer a viable answer to the question of why things like this happen without God's immediate intervention? This item is part of the collection: Open Source Audio Author: Grace to You http://www.gty.org Date: 2007-04-20 -- Original Source: http://www.archive.org/details/MacArthur_on_Disaster Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.
creator: Grace to You
date: 2007-06-15
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
language: eng

Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy
description: Full Report (PDF) - 463 KB June 13, 2007 "We reflect on what has been lost and comfort those enduring a profound grief. And somehow we know that a brighter morning will come. We know this because together Americans have overcome many evils and found strength through many storms." -President George W. Bush -- June 13, 2007 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, you charged us to travel to communities across our Nation to meet with a wide range of leaders on the broader issues raised by this tragedy, and to report back to you what we learned, together with our recommendations for how the Federal government can help avoid such tragedies in the future. The enclosed report summarizes our findings and provides our recommendations developed through discussions with educators, mental health experts, law enforcement and other key state and local officials from more than a dozen states. We found great commonality in the themes that emerged from our meetings. Following the Virginia Tech tragedy and similar incidents of violence that have occurred in recent years, states and local communities are carefully considering whether they have properly addressed and balanced the fundamental interests of privacy and individual freedom, safety and security, and assisting those with mental health needs in getting appropriate care. Although state and local leaders recognized and underscored that these issues primarily must be resolved at the state and local level, these events make all of us ask whether there is more we can and should be doing. As we note in our report, our recommendations are not a panacea. Rather, along with identifying steps that we can take, the report serves to focus our attention on the issues that must be part of the ongoing national dialogue as we continue to protect the freedoms we enjoy in our society, while appropriately minimizing risks to public safety. We look forward to continuing ou…
creator: Michael O. Leavitt, Margaret Spellings, and Alberto R. Gonzales
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

News ghouls hit all the wrong notes
description: By Valerie Syverson, Co-Editor Thursday, April 19, 2007 As anyone used to following national news knows, there's nothing quite so tailor-made for TV news as a school massacre like last Monday's. All other news is immediately superseded for footage of the scene of the tragedy, speeches from every dignitary that can show up, and, when there's no new footage, endless rounds of analysis from every pundit who isn't already booked somewhere else. Naturally, opportunities abound for sensationalistic coverage, and to use words like "tragic", "senseless", "horrific" -- all of which, though of course applicable, have been diluted through decades of overuse and sadly no longer register as earnest sentiment. And, of course, there's the framing and the political football, and then the criticism of opponents for using a mass homicide as a football. Sound familiar? It should -- to anyone else who wasn't living under a rock during the 2001 Littleton shootings. So the editors of the Tech will, for this writing, refrain from adding one more to the long roster of responses expressing the obviously appropriate sentiments -- sympathy, concern, and grief. If you don't know the sort of thing I mean, you can read Dr. Chameau's article three columns to the right; his statement alone renders it superfluous to say anything of the sort in this space. Instead, the concern that motivates me is over the way the news media has covered the event and its repercussions. Although the majority of responses have, of course, been those of decent human beings, there is a certain subset of the responses that are rather horrifying. The first that comes to mind is the slew of columnists who have ghoulishly seized upon the opportunity to lambaste their favourite targets, be that violent video games for giving people ideas, atheists for not praying at memorial ceremonies, or foreign nationals for (apparently) existing at all. But, of course, these random hearse-chasing political creeps are just columnists, not…
creator: Valerie Syverson
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions: Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu> editor-in-chief, The California Daily
language: eng

Page pranks Fleming cannon
description: By Natalya Kostandova Monday, April 23, 2007 The student body awoke Thursday morning expecting the day to bring much change to campus, largely in form of a couple hundred prefrosh who arrived throughout the day. Not many, however, expected to see the Fleming Cannon turn blue. The colorful change, accompanied by the sounds of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65 coming out of a boom box across the Olive Walk, was quickly attributed to be Page's doing. "We were very, very happy about how it worked out," said former Page president Sean Mattingly who, along with a handful of other Pageboys, painted the cannon. "We were afraid the color would come out turquoise, but it turned out a perfect blue. We were all amazed at how perfectly it matched our shirts. And I think the cannon looks better in blue than red." Not everybody, however, was amused. Almost immediately upon discovering the prank, the Flems put on their reds, blared their own speakers at Page, and started stripping the blue paint off the base of the cannon. Although the initial plan was to quickly paint the cannon back into its original red, the cannon was instead painted maroon and orange, colors of Virginia Tech. Rob Hunter, Fleming President, said, "We would not have otherwise considered painting it this way, but we took advantage of this opportunity to make a gesture towards Virginia Tech." While some people have voiced their concern about the message that having a big gun painted in VT colors conveyed, Hunter explained that the cannon was meant as a tribute. He said, "The cannon is incredibly important to our House, and it is a symbol of honor. It is the most we have to give." According to Mattingly, the timing of the prank, the idea for which had originated in the end of second term, did not have anything to do with the Prefrosh Weekend. "It just kind of worked out at that time," said Mattingly. "We had paint and we thought we should just do it." The painting started late Wednesday night and was finished before …
creator: Natalya Kostandova
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions: Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu> editor-in-chief, The California Daily
language: eng

Caltech grieves for VA Tech student victims
description: By Jean-Lou Chameau, Institute President Thursday, April 19, 2007 We live in a time when tragedies occur almost daily in the world. They trouble us; however, many of them seem so distant that they do not affect us deeply, although they should. The tragedy experienced yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus is one that is affecting all of us more deeply because it took place in a community we understand and cherish. Violence of young people against young people is tragic--impossible to truly comprehend, but especially shocking in a university environment. The university years provide a unique period in the lives of young people, a period when they can learn, experience, and interact with others in freedom and safety. Our thoughts today should be with the Virginia Tech community, and especially with the families of the victims. We grieve for them. As we learn to adjust to this event, our commitment and energy should remain focused on assuring that universities like Virginia Tech and Caltech remain safe, free environments where young people can prepare themselves for life. -- Original Source: The California Daily - April 19, 2007
creator: Jean-Lou Chameau
publisher: The California Daily
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions: Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu> editor-in-chief, The California Daily
language: eng

Caltech mourns VT tragedy
description: By Yang Yang Thursday, April 19, 2007 Some found out when they checked the morning news, only to be greeted with horror; others learned about it when concerned parents began calling. The rest discovered the gruesome news when fellow students began discussing it. By lunchtime Monday, every student at Caltech was well aware of the two shootings which left 33 dead that occurred earlier that day at Virginia Tech. "I first found out about this when my friend began talking about it at lunch," junior Henna Kermani said. "At first I couldn't believe it." For Ricketts RA Amy Eastwood, a Virginia native, the shootings struck a little closer to home. "My initial reaction was shock. I kept checking back [and] the number of casualties kept increasing and increasing. It was so sad, an RA was killed. He was a triple major, member of the band, 4.0 kind of guy. Why?" she asked. Inevitably, some began to wonder about whether such a massacre could happen at Caltech. "Obviously, I imagined whether or not it could happen here," sophomore Cliff Chang said. "It's the same as the reaction to Columbine, [you wonder] if any of the other students you don't really talk to is thinking about [shooting everyone]." To address potential concern, a campus-wide gathering was held on Tuesday. There, chief of security Gregg Henderson and director of counseling Kevin Austin addressed the handful of people who showed. Security looks to expand immediate notification list According to Henderson, Caltech is one of the safest schools in the U.S. The campus has rarely seen violence, much less deadly shootings. The last fatal incident on campus occurred in April 1994; no students were involved or harmed in the event. The Institute has emergency response plans for shooter situations, but Henderson could not disclose any details. Coincidentally, Caltech emergency dispatchers underwent training two weeks ago for emergency conditions such as a shooter on campus. "We just went through training with our dispatchers …
creator: Yang Yang
date: 2007-06-14
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions: Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu> editor-in-chief, The California Daily
language: eng

Virginia Tech: How Media Are Evolving
description: April 17th, 2007 by Dan Gillmor (Note: This will appear tomorrow as an op-ed piece in the Washington Examiner newspaper.) Once again, horror has given us a glimpse of our media future: simultaneously conversational and distributed, mass and personal. The killings Monday at Virginia Tech brought to the forefront the remarkable evolution in media over the past few years. And as we move into a time in which we will be saturated with data, we need to be clear on some of the implications of democratized media. We've had any number of glimpses already in this new century. On Sept. 11, 2001, we read blog postings and watched citizen videos of planes smashing into the World Trade Center towers. During the Asian tsunami, tourist videos showed waves smashing onto shores. A man in the London underground, wielding a mobile phone camera, took the image we all remember best from that day. The scope of the media shift was clearer again on Monday. Some of the most widely viewed images came from a mobile phone camera aimed at the police response by a student, Jamal Albaughouti. His video made its way to CNN and other media, and was seen by millions. But others on and off the Blacksburg, Va., campus were also using conversational media in highly visible ways. Social network communications, blog postings, email and a host of other technologies were brought to bear by people who were directly and indirectly part of this huge event. The students' words were achingly poignant. They were straight from the source, not pushed through a traditional-media funnel as they'd have been in the not-so-distant past. They brought to mind a blog post I spotted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by a young man in Brooklyn, N.Y., across the river from the World Trade Center. He wrote, "Now I know what a burning city smells like." The democratization of media is not just about creation, though that has been the most notable aspect so far. Putting the tools into everyone's hands has produced an explosio…
creator: Dan Gillmor
date: 2007-06-12
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
language: eng

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

Ire and Vice: The Dead
description: May 22, 2007 By Darren Franich Suicide is so much less embarrassing than homicide. Can you imagine the shitstorm maelstrom that would engulf our pretty campus if someone shot five people? Shot them so their blood splattered across the tables of Stern dining hall. Or their blood covered the pull-out desks in the chem building. Or their blood filled the fountains until the water sprayed dark bitter red. Five Stanford students dead. Hell, it doesn't have to be five. Make it three. Make it one. Think of the black cloud that would descend on our lives. Our own little Virginia Tech. The blood, damn it, the fucking blood! Pouring out of open wounds. Choked out of lungs that will never breathe again. On our campus. On our hands. Flowing out of pale bodies until the heart just stops pumping, tired, empty. Fortunately, people don't kill other people at Stanford. They just kill themselves. No one ever talks about the suicides, but everyone talks about how no one ever talks about the suicides. "Can you believe," we shake our heads, "four suicides at Stanford in one year, and nobody notices, nobody cares." Someone says, "I heard there were five." "That's what I'm talking about." Stanford is killing people. We shouldn't hold that against Stanford. There is so much joy here. There are thousands of students who live happy lives of quiet desperation, for whom suicide is never more than a passing fancy, the dream of an eternal vacation from one's own brain. But for a school that prides itself on its happiest-place-on-earth reputation, one suicide is a misfortune. Five is just awkward. To a high school senior, Stanford is the anti-Cornell: happy people living happy lives under the happy, happy sun. And now there is a suicide epidemic. Intelligent young people — who have worked hard their whole lives to get here, who have so much to look forward to — are eliminating themselves from the humanity continuum. Asphyxiation. It's not a good way to go. These people would have been great. …
creator: Darren Franich
publisher: Stanford Daily
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

Op-Ed: An open letter to President Hennessy
description: May 14, 2007 By Lisette Rimer Dear Dr. Hennessy, Thank you for your op-ed piece May 4th on preventing future tragedies such as Virginia Tech. It was forwarded to me byone of your students who suffered the loss of a friend, my son Patrick Wood. Patrick graduated from Stanford in 2005 with distinction in math. He loved the school, had many friends there, and was even treated for depression there. In January before he graduated, he was hospitalized for, as he explained to me, "having thoughts of suicide." He was committed to the Stanford hospital for five days, but proclaimed that he was OK, mostly bored, and didn't belong there. The psychiatrist in charge at the hospital agreed that Pat was OK and should be permitted to return to school as long as he continued therapy. He saw a therapist and a psychiatrist on campus and renewed his medication. His mood was up and down, but he continued an active social life and good communication with us. He was excited about an internship at Siemens in Berlin, Germany, which he began after graduation. He had applied for the internship through the Stanford Center in Berlin. He suspended his therapy for the summer with plans to return in September for the computer science co-term program, but he loved Berlin too much to leave just yet. Another friend from Stanford was arriving to work in the American Embassy there, and so Patrick obtained a leave of absence and continued to work at Siemens through the fall. All the while, he made many friends, spoke and wrote fluent German, went to concerts with colleagues at Siemens, and maintained close contact with the Stanford Center. He could often be heard playing the piano there just as he had done at Haus Mitt. He wrote about a "mini-depression" before he came home to Connecticut for Christmas vacation. We thought a medication refill would be the answer. His twin sister and older brother were home, along with cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was the usual busy but fun time. Pat later told friends…
creator: Lisette Rimer
publisher: Stanford Daily
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

Op-Ed: Hennessy reflects on tragedy
description: May 4, 2007 By JOHN HENNESSY On April 16, 2007, our country suffered a terrible tragedy when a troubled student killed 32 members of the Virginia Tech community. Such tragedies are unfathomable. Words, as eloquent and sincere as they may be, fail to convey the shock and sadness we all felt upon hearing that news. At Stanford, I was struck by the deep and sincere evidence of sympathy and concern throughout campus, from the moments of silence at many meetings to the cards signed in dining halls to the moving ceremony at Memorial Church. Today, Stanford's condolences stand among those of more than 300 other colleges and universities on the Virginia Tech website. Ours is a caring community, and that fact was never so clear as it was on April 16 and the days immediately thereafter. Not surprisingly, I have been asked about emergency protocols here at Stanford. I want you to know that in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, a group has been convened by Vice President Randy Livingston to review all of our emergency protocols, as well as our methods of communication. Stanford has had an emergency management program in place for many years. The emergency plan has evolved from one primarily focused on earthquake preparation and response and now includes an "all hazards" approach. We practice annually for all types of emergencies, including intentional acts. In addition, we have various methods available through which to communicate with the entire campus, but we are seeking to improve the speed and efficiency with which we can do so. Our emergency protocols are good, but the realities of today's society demand that they be even better. As important as they are, emergency protocols are unfortunately after-event procedures, and therefore only part of a necessary dialogue. As has been made very clear in the days following the tragedy at Virgina Tech, the challenge of how society addresses mental health issues is serious and complicated. We pray that what happened at Virginia T…
creator: John Hennessy
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

Editorial: Address campus tragedies
description: April 27, 2007 By Editorial Board It is a tough line to walk: simultaneously respecting those affected by tragedy and reassuring the community in a time of crisis. This year has seen numerous examples of the administration's sincere efforts to negotiate that line with the handful of student suicides and most recently with its response to Stanford students on the Virginia Tech shootings. But in each of those cases, we wish the administration would have spoken directly to all of us, or in instances in which they did, perhaps spoken sooner. An unknown number of classmates have taken their lives this year with no acknowledgement at all by the administration. Last week, it was more than 24 hours until we received an official response to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Undoubtedly, many factors go into the process for announcing a death in the community or responding to a tragedy at another school. In phone and email conversations, Director of University Communications Alan Acosta and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman said that the issue of family privacy rights should not be overlooked. While Acosta acknowledged that "there are a number of things you have to do right away" when dealing with tragedy, we don't understand entirely how the University's support network of Counseling and Psychological Services, the Bridge Peer Counseling Center or the Office of Religious Life assists students who are merely trying to determine if the rumor of their classmate's death is true or not. This year alone, rumors of numerous suicides plagued the student body, and in those times it was hard to find a student who really knew the truth of what was happening at Stanford. Boardman's email to the student body the day after the Virginia Tech shooting was appreciated. Students needed to hear his support — we just wish it had come a little earlier. Those who live and work here expect Stanford to be there for them. The student body was never notified after some suicides. We do not exp…
creator: Editorial Board
publisher: Stanford Daily
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

Ethnic identities questioned after Virginia Tech
description: Korean community reacts to blame and guilt following massacre April 24, 2007 By Aram Hur In the aftermath of last week's Virginia Tech massacre, the national Korean-American community has reportedly suffered a backlash similar to that unleashed against Muslims in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, but Asian Americans on campus largely agree that they are being treated with respect and sympathy and credited the media's portrayal of the attack as objective and fair. A number of Facebook groups, such as "Cho Seung-Hui does NOT represent Asians," are continuously amassing new members, while a YouTube post with the words "I belong in Korea" over Cho's face is receiving hundreds of hits per day. While the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, was South Korean, other ethnic groups have expressed empathy for Asians in the wake of last week's attack. Ahmed Ashraf '07, vice president of the Muslim Student Awareness Network, said he had similar fears before the identity of the shooter was disclosed. "I know that when I first heard about the Virginia Tech tragedy, I was very, very nervous about the gunman's background," Ashraf said in an email to the Daily. "If a Muslim student were involved in the massacre, it [would have] hit way too close to home." Media coverage of the shootings has drawn an ambiguous reaction from Asian students and faculty members at the University. "This shows that race and ethnicity is still a key source of collective identity in the United States," said Sociology Prof. Gi-Wook Shin. "Non-white ethnic groups and females can be self-conscious and extra careful precisely because they are still minorities in American politics of identity." Others said they were pleased with the focus on Cho's mental state, rather than his ethnicity. "The media has been pretty good at being neutral," said Kenny Kim '08, co-president of the Korean Students Association. "As a member of the Asian-American community, I was inclined to think of the worst possible outcomes, b…
creator: Aram Hur
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng

Va. shooting prompts Univ. policy review
description: Police trained, armed with special weapons, for crisis April 20, 2007 By Rahul Kanakia A new Stanford committee will conduct an evaluation of its emergency protocols in the wake of Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech University. The protocol review, which will be led by Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Livingston, was announced in a statement concerning the massacre by President John Hennessy. A University Department of Public Safety community service officer records the SLAC protest with a video camera and carries a camera with a telephoto lens to photograph activists. "The terrible ordeal suffered there reminds us how precious life is and how important it is that we all redouble our efforts to prevent such tragedies in the future," Hennessy said. "At Stanford, we plan to review all of our emergency response protocols. The safety of the Stanford community will always be a top priority for us." Police at Virginia Tech have drawn criticism for their decision not to lock down the campus after the initial shootings in West Ambler Johnson Hall, a dormitory. Chris Cohendet, a deputy at the Department of Public Safety (DPS), said the police train for what he called "an active shooter situation." In such a case, officers would call together nearby agencies and attempt to control the situation. "There's obviously a lot of things that go through your mind," he said. "You want to be sure the community is safe. But you've got to figure things out. For instance, at [Virginia Tech, officers] received what they thought was a domestic dispute call earlier on. And within that time frame the police department [was] getting numerous calls with differing information. It's really hard for a police department to filter all of this information." For these kinds of situations, Stanford's police cruisers carry a variety of weapons in addition to the standard issue handguns. They are also equipped with non-lethal weapons, such as tasers, as well as more powerful alternatives, inclu…
creator: Rahul Kanakia
date: 2007-06-13
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Permissions granted by James Hohmann Editor-in-Chief The Stanford Daily <jhohmann@stanford.edu>
language: eng