Today We Are All Hokies by phantom-inker
description: Artist's Comments On a sunny warm morning on September 17, 1996, a young woman with a long history of mental health problems walked onto the Penn State campus, sat down under a tree on one of the most popular lawns on campus, took a seven-millimeter Mauser rifle, and fired five shots randomly into the crowd. Melanie Spalla was killed, Nicholas Mensah was injured, and two others later found bullet holes in their backpacks. When the bullets started to fly, Brendan Malovrh had the amazing courage to run not away from them but toward them; he wrestled the rifle and a knife away from the deranged Jillian Robbins and held her until police could arrive. Had he not acted so quickly and selflessly, Penn State could easily have suffered the tragedy that Virginia Tech is dealing with today. On my way to class, I walked right past the spot where Jillian killed a girl --- only an hour after it happened. If my class had been an hour earlier, I could have been right in the line of her sights. Today, we are all Hokies. Every alumnus who carries a degree and every student who studies in the quad, every professor who goes beyond the call of duty and every parent who worries about her child, we are all Hokies. Our hearts and prayers go out to you, Virginia Tech. By the grace of God we all hope that may never happen again anywhere. The Hetzel Union Building Shootings | The Digital Collegian, Sep 27, 1996 | Penn State Shooting in 1996 Hauntingly Familiar | Woman Pleads Guilty in Penn State Shooting -- This picture is of Ally, my centauress character, and I drew it in a single sitting of six hours during which I had a very hard time not crying. I'm offering it as a print, and it's my first (and only) print. Due to the seriousness of the situation, I'm also offering a version where Ally is human, which some people might prefer. Regardless of her species, the point remains the same: We're thinking of and praying for you and yours, VT. -- Original submitted to deviantart.com on May 12, 2007…
creator: The Phantom Inker
date: 2007-05-24
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 License
language: eng

Transnistria survivor Liviu Librescu killed in Virginia Tech massacre
description: During Tuesday's massacre at Virginia Tech, in the USA, a holocaust survivor with ties to Tiraspol was killed. Liviu Librescu had survived deportation from Romania to the killing fields of World War II's Transnistria. The territory was never part of Romania or of any independent Moldovan state. By Times staff, 18/Apr/2007 BLACKSBURG (Wires, Tiraspol Times) - Liviu Librescu, a Romanian-born Israeli professor, survived the killing fields of Transnistria as a teenager but fell to the bullet of a lone gunman in an American university campus Tuesday. The 76 year-old Holocaust survivor was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding off the gunman at his lecture hall entrance so his students could escape. Librescu was among the thirty-three people who were murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007. He was killed during a class in the Norris Hall Engineering Building by a student, Korean-born Cho Seung-hui, 23. At Virginia Tech, his recent position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Librescu held the door of his classroom shut while Cho was attempting to enter it; although he was shot through the door, he was able to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until his students had escaped through the windows. A hero to his students A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions, with one student, Asael Arad, saying that all the professor's students "lived because of him". Librescu's son, Joe, said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives and regarded him as a hero. His death came on Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. Liviu Librescu was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in the city of Ploieşti, Romania. During World War II, his native Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany and started an extermination campaign of Jews. His family was first interned in a labor camp in what the Romanians at the time called Transnistria and then transferred to the ghetto…
creator: The Tiraspol Times
date: 2007-06-18
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: Jason Cooper (jasoncooper@tiraspoltimes.com)
language: eng

Police Presence on Campus
description: Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:20:54 -0400 From: VTPolice@vt.edu To: Multiple recipients <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.VT.EDU> Subject: Police Presence on Campus April 14, 2008 To : The Virginia Tech University Community From : The Virginia Tech Police Department Wendell R. Flinchum, Chief of Police As you know, the Virginia Tech community will be honoring those affected by the tragic events of April 16, 2007 with a 'Day of Remembrance' on Wednesday April 16, 2008. In addition to the special ceremonies scheduled for this day, the university and the Blacksburg community will be hosting many other activities related to remembrance, recognition and healing. Further, our campus will be hosting several major events including women's softball on Wednesday, a concert at Burruss Hall on Thursday night, and our annual spring football game on Saturday. These events will, of course, draw many visitors to our campus and require significant resources from our police department. To ensure the timely and efficient delivery of our services, the Virginia Tech Police Department has decided to accept the generous offers of assistance from other law enforcement agencies in and around our community. Through these partnerships, the Virginia Tech Police Department hopes to create an environment of comfort and safety for students, faculty, staff, and visitors as they experience the events of this important week. The presence of these officers should not be seen as a cause for concern, but rather as yet another example of the support our university continues to receive. Should have any questions or concerns, please contact your Virginia Tech Police Department. Thank you. - end -
creator: The Virginia Tech Police Department / Wendell R. Flinchum, Chief of Police
date: 2008-04-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

What We Can Learn From Virginia Tech
description: By Dr. Thomas Parham In the wake of the tragic events that occurred at Virginia Tech University, many in our community will be forced to wrestle with and confront some tough questions and concerns. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and families, as well as the broader campus community. No amount of planning and preparation can ever truly prepare one for the events that unfolded on April 16, and yet our thoughts cannot resist the tendency to delve into spaces that invite critical reflection and analysis about our own vulnerability to such a tragedy within the borders of this campus. Times like these challenge our individual and collective sensibilities as we seek to desperately cling to notions of life that are far more predictable, less scary and less unsettling. Our designs for living and patterns for interpreting reality have been shaken by this single act of horrific proportion, which dislodges us from our comfortable spaces of intellectual, emotional, behavioral and even spiritual comfort. As people struggle to cope with this horrific tragedy, it is likely that some will experience a broad range of emotional reactions, including anxiety, confusion, depression, insecurity, anger, resentment, sadness, vulnerability and fear. Some may experience difficulty sleeping, eating or concentrating on their studies. These feelings are normal and reasonable, and consistent with what mental health professionals predict. Over time, these feelings will diminish for most people. We want each member of our community to know that we are here for you in ways that ensure, to the best of our ability, your safety, as well as address your emotional and psychological well-being in this time of extreme distress. In recalling the incidents of last week, I want to invite each of you to resist the temptation to espouse what could or should have been done. Hindsight is always 20/20, and none of us really knows what it was like in the moments surrounding the tragedy. What I do want…
creator: Thomas A. Parham
publisher: New University
date: 2007-08-19
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Zachary Gale <newueic@gmail.com>
language: eng

Tiroteos, otra herencia de los sesenta
description: Por Thomas Sowell 28 de abril de 2007 ¿Cuándo ha abierto fuego un asesino múltiple contra una reunión de la Asociación Nacional del Rifle o contra un grupo de cazadores? Alguien decía recientemente que masacres como las de Virginia Tech o la del instituto Columbine son, en gran medida, un fenómeno propio de la década de los sesenta y posteriores. De ser así, estas tragedias pueden añadirse a la larga lista de desastrosas consecuencias de las excitantes ideas y extravagante retórica propias de aquellos años. ¿Qué había en la visión del mundo de la década de los sesenta que pudiera hacer concluir a alguien que es correcto disparar a personas que no le habían hecho nada? La culpa colectiva es uno de los legados de los años sesenta que aún permanece con nosotros. Aún estamos viendo cómo se intenta hacer sentir culpable por la esclavitud a personas que nunca fueron propietarias de un esclavo en su vida, y a las que la mera idea de poseer uno les repele. Allá por la década de los sesenta, se consideraba el colmo de la sofisticación entre la intelligentsia izquierdista decir que la sociedad norteamericana -todos nosotros, colectivamente- éramos en cierto modo responsables de los asesinatos de los hermanos Kennedy o de Martin Luther King. Durante los años sesenta se extendió como la pólvora la idea de que la culpa de que le faltara a alguien cualquier cosa la tenía otro, en concreto, la sociedad. Los pobres, ya fueran en Estados Unidos o en algún país del Tercer Mundo, eran "los desposeídos", aunque nunca hubieran tenido nada que se les pudiera haber quitado. Los disturbios en los suburbios que proliferaron por el país durante los sesenta fueron todos achacados a la sociedad. Esta visión se formalizó en un informe ampliamente elogiado sobre la violencia urbana por una comisión nacional "oficiosa" encabezada por el gobernador de Illinois, Otto Kerner. El presidente Lyndon Johnson también culpó a las condiciones sociales de la violencia …
creator: Thomas Sowell
date: 2007-08-01
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Gabriel Gasave Reasearch Analyst Center On Global Prosperity The Independent Institute ggasave@independent.org august 01, 2007
language: spa

Virginia Tech Memorials
description: Sign by Branch & Associates, Inc. on a building being constructed on Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus. Photo taken by Thomas Upton on April 24, 2007. Original Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/third/471697761/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic.
creator: Thomas Upton
date: 2007-11-23
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic
language: eng

Vigil for Virginia Tech, Cornell University, April 19, 2007 - Program and Remarks
description: From: Thomas W. Bruce [mailto:vpcommunications@cornell.edu] Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 3:58 PM Subject: President Skorton, Provost Martin, and Dean Fuchs in Remembrance of the Virginia Tech Tragedy Dear Friends, This afternoon witnessed a gathering of the Cornell community in Sage Chapel to honor the memories of the victims of Monday's tragedy at Virginia Tech. I would like to share with our entire Cornell family the program and the remarks of the three speakers: Dean W. Kent Fuchs of the College of Engineering, President David J. Skorton, and Provost Carolyn "Biddy" Martin. A video of the service can be seen on the web at the Cornell University home page: <http://www.cornell.edu> Tommy Bruce Vice President for University Communications THE PROGRAM A Service of Remembrance and Reflection for Victims of Virginia Technical Institute and State University Tragedy Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:30 p.m. Sage Chapel, Cornell University Ithaca, New York Prior to the service, the chimes of McGraw Tower rang thirty-three times in memory of each victim of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech on Monday, April 16, 2007. Prelude: Master Tallis's Testament Herbery Howells (1892 - 1982) Professor Annette Richards, University Organist Welcome and Remembrance W. Kent Fuchs The Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering Father of Eric Fuchs, Virginia Tech, Class of 2008 Music: 'In Paradisum' from Requiem Maurice Durufle (1902 - 1986) Cornell University Glee Club and Chorus Directed by Katherine Fitzgibbon Message David J. Skorton President, Cornell University Music: Panis Angelicus Rev. Heewon Chun Chaplain, Korean Church at Cornell University Reflection Carolyn "Biddy" Martin Provost, Cornell University A Time of Silence Postlude: Fantasia in G Minor J. S. Bach (1685 -1750) Professor Annette Richards, University Organist "We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly. We are brave enough to bend to cry, and sad enough to know we must laugh again." Nikki Giovanni Virginia Tech University Distinguished…
creator: Thomas W. Bruce, W. Kent Fuchs, David J. Skorton, Carolyn "Biddy" Martin
date: 2007-05-03
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

Campus in shock - UHM advances alert system
description: Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News By Tiffany Hill Ka Leo Associate News Editor With the horrific massacre shooting that occurred Monday at Virginia Tech, many universities, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa, have turned their focus onto whether they would be prepared for similar situation. The person most in charge of coordinating disaster relief efforts is Mel Won, the UH Emergency Planning Coordinator. Emergency planning includes a variety of emergency types, from natural disasters such as the earthquakes last October, to terrorist attacks and school shootings. The university has also recently taken steps for a more advanced campus-wide alert notification. "ITS purchased the automated notification service that opens up to all the campuses ... we are in the process of putting together and creating the procedures so it can work," said Won. Won is currently undergoing training in the U.S. Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program in order to receive federal funding for the university's emergency planning program, including funding for expenditures such as an emergency response center, which is currently a conference room in Hawai'i Hall. "[The training] encompasses all kinds of disasters," said Won, but added that it does not necessarily focus on shootings. The program is focused on training Won to be prepared in civil emergency management. Won said that the shooting in Virginia is an isolated case but that the UH emergency plan has included provisions for terrorist attacks. According to the emergency planning Web site, a mass casualty shooting falls under the category of terrorist attacks. "The emergency plan is supposed to encompass all types of disasters," said Won, but added that all types deserve equal attention. "I think [being prepared for a school shooting] is something that the university will work together and decide what to do. This is something that is a priority and I can tell you right now that it is a priority of the administration," said…
creator: Tiffany Hill
date: 2008-03-12
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Kumari Sherreitt <editor@kaleo.org>
language: eng

Messages to Virginia Tech
description: A book in Modern Languages that will be sent to Virginia Tech from the University of Waterloo. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timalamenciak/479024375/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
creator: Tim Alamenciak
date: 2007-05-29
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Tim Alamenciak http://www.flickr.com/photos/timalamenciak/479024375/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/633
description: Senator Jim Webb arrives at the Blacksburg Airport. Photo Courtesy of Garry Thompson
creator: tim kaine, governor of virginia, blacksburg airport
date: 2007-06-29
contributor: Chad Newswander
rights: Permission Garry Thompson sthomp2813@aol.com
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/175
description: The Student Senate President of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey addresses members of the college community attending a memorial service honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
creator: Tim Kelly
date: 2007-05-21
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/176
description: Part of the overflow crowd attending a memorial service at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
creator: Tim Kelly
date: 2007-05-21
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/177
description: At Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Vice President for Student Affairs Joseph Marchetti offers words of condolence at a memorial service honoring the memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
creator: Tim Kelly
date: 2007-05-21
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/178
description: Flowers planted around and ribbons placed on 33 trees at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Each ribbon bears the name of a victim.
creator: Tim Kelly
date: 2007-05-21
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

https://april16archive.org/items/show/179
description: Flowers planted around and ribbons placed on 33 trees at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Each ribbon bears the name of a victim.
creator: Tim Kelly
date: 2007-05-21
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

The Altar of the Gun
description: Note: I found writing this piece to be a way of channeling my own anger at the massacre this morning. But I recognize that anger is only one part of the grief process. Please join me in praying for the families and friends of those killed. American worships the gun. Today, 33 more were sacrificed on the altar of our devotion to the gun. Specifically to semi automatic handguns. There are already dozens of articles from disciples arguing that the massacre today at Virginia tech could have been avoided if some of the students had been carrying guns so they could shoot the killer before he killed them. We trust the gun more than we trust God. The brutal reality of our gun fetish is that selling guns and ammo is highly profitable. But it is not simply the fact that the market values short term earnings from gun sales more than the social, cultural, political and long term economic damage that gun violence does to our society. More importantly, the gun industry long ago learned to effectively invest their short term earnings into the social, political and cultural sphere. Their investments in the NRA, especially since 1977 years have returned 10 fold and the results are a culture in which gun ownership is intimately connected with the values of self-sufficiency, responsibility and security that so many Americans identify with. We'll call these frontier values. As much as we'd like to wish that the new Democratic congress would seize on this moment to pass some common sense gun laws, the reality is that many of the new members of Congress were partly by actively courting those with frontier values. Unless their constituency shows signs of disconnecting handguns from frontier values, any vote for limiting the sales of hand guns will be doomed. It may be that changing our gun culture requires looking at movements that have successfully challenged large corporations with large amounts of cultural capital. The anti-smoking movement comes to mind. The last 30 years have seen a …
creator: Tim Nafziger
date: 2007-06-17
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5
language: eng

Remember the Hokies
description: Issue Date:Tuesday April 17, 2007 Section: Sports Section By Tim Tassa, Sports Editor Monday morning's events make sports seem so petty, so irrelevant. Every year there are one or two tragedies of monumental proportion that unite people and draw to mind that there is more to life than a rivalry, a goal post, a field and a coach. And, unfortunately, April 16, when at least 32 people at Virginia Tech were killed by a deranged gunman, was one of those days. It marked the beginning of a time to reach out to the Virginia Tech community, for so many at West Virginia University - through geography, friends and family - are connected to the institution. The day after the deadliest shooting on a college campus in United States history brings nothing but disbelief, outrage, curiosity and grief. As we often do during times of bewilderment and mourning, we ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" And still, there is no answer. As a University that is familiar with Virginia Tech, whether on the playing field, academically or socially, it is only human to keep southwest Virginia in our thoughts just a day after such a disaster. But the effects are much more widespread. After the images displayed on network television, Monday's violence will be remembered just as the Kent State, University of Texas and Columbine shootings - except at an even larger level. In addition, the events may be a catalyst for change in the way higher education is conducted nationwide. Or at least in security procedures. For those of us sitting in large lecture halls and residing in campus dormitories, the anxiety and horror of what happened in Blacksburg, Va., doesn't seem very far. The realization is that tragedies of this magnitude can happen on any campus, big or small. For current WVU students, sitting in class today will feel much different than it did last Tuesday. In speaking with a few VT students on Monday, the realities of the events had yet to hit them. By day's end it surely had. It was …
creator: Tim Tassa
date: 2008-02-18
contributor: Kacey Beddoes
rights: Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>
language: eng

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

I Know Them Well Through My Mortality
description: My mortality, there it is, right there in my mind. I feel the fear of loss of life. How close proximity to death, to my own death, I have come. At first, as I discovered the reality of the killing that had happened at Virginia Tech, where I work and rarely teach, I wondered how is it that I'm 1700 miles away in the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean. Why aren't I in the middle of the chaos in Blacksburg? Was it some higher power that kept me away for a reason? What might that reason be? How might I serve the purposes of that higher power? Is this a sign that I am to leave Blacksburg for some new life, somehow directed by this force now taking root in the separation between me and the horror happening in Blacksburg? Or am I the person who is to watch from afar the early trauma at VT, to return to be some help as the witness? Is this somehow directing me to strengthen my commitment to a mission of creating a world of connection by empowering acceptance and authenticity in myself and others? What can be my purpose from this point on? Then I felt a pull. What am I doing here in the Caribbean when I'm losing my connection with the people I care about and love in Blacksburg? Might I stop my vacation now and return to be of some support? And I felt confused by the countering push back. No, who am I to think I can be of any help to those I don't even know. And what about my own sense of sanity and well-being, wouldn't that suffer if I cut off my vacation to respond to something I can not even begin to grasp? When confronted with people offering sympathies because they discovered we were from "there", I tried to empathize with their need to express their horror at what being from that place must be like, and their wish that they could be of some help. I wonder if it might have been clear had I said, "I appreciate your disgust and sadness, because I get that you want this to have never happened and wish you could somehow be of help to those who are suffering, and maybe you're af…
creator: Tom Caruso
date: 2007-05-02
contributor: Tom Caruso
language: eng

Don't Conceal This Debate
description: Tom DeLay Former Tennessee Senator and potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson had a very interesting article in the National Review on April 20th entitled, "Signs of Intelligence?" which dealt with concealed carry laws on the Virginia Tech Campus. In the article he writes, Still, there are a lot of people who are just offended by the notion that people can carry guns around. They view everybody, or at least many of us, as potential murderers prevented only by the lack of a convenient weapon. Virginia Tech administrators overrode Virginia state law and threatened to expel or fire anybody who brings a weapon onto campus... ...So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university's "concealed carry" policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure. The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on "the authorities" for protection. To read the article in its entirety click here (and I would encourage you to do so because Senator Thompson makes a lot of sense on this issue). I did some research on my own on the background of this Virginia Tech concealed carry debate and I found this article in the Roanoke Times submitted by a Virginia Tech graduate student during August of last year. Entitled "Unarmed and Vulnerable" it is written by a Mr. Bradford Wiles and it says this, On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building." Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully auto…
creator: Tom DeLay
date: 2007-05-25
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
language: eng