Virgnia Tech raises concerns

     April 16, 2007, will likely be remembered as the worst day in school history for Virginia Tech students and one of the worst for the rest of the nation as well.  The fatal shootings left 33 people dead and many more injured, but in the wake of this tragedy it is hard not to wonder if it could have been prevented by the campus police and school administration.
     The first of the two incidents occurred in a dorm, leaving two students dead.  The second shooting was not until more than two hours later, leaving many angry parents wondering why the school didn’t shut down campus in time to prevent the bulk of the rampage.  But who’s to say he wouldn’t have just done it the next day?
     Eugene Bertrand was a detective for eight years and recently became the GCSU Director of Emergency Preparedness.  Bertrand declined to comment on who was at fault for the shooting, but said he would handle a similar situation differently here at GCSU.
     “I think there should have been a lockdown and investigation after the first shooting,” Bertrand said.  “If I were in that situation, I would assess the casualties and provide immediate medical care, alert staff and summon the crisis team.”
     GCSU does currently have an action plan for armed assailants/shooting incidents in the emergency response procedure handbook, but the procedure is basic.
     Bertrand is amending the book and using a more progressive approach to prevent this kind of incident from happening here.
     “One of the things I would like to do is start a database of staff cell phones so we can raise awareness quickly if need be,” Bertrand said.  He is also planning training exercises for faculty, staff, and resident assistants on campus that may involve active shooting.
     Another point that has been brought up in the days after the shooting is that Cho showed many signs of violent tendencies, so extreme that he had to be taught in a class by himself at times.
     Director of Counseling Services Mary Jane Phillips offered her take on the issue.
      “The problem is, even in a room full of people with violent thoughts and tendencies, only one or two will actually act on them, so we can’t effectively predict which ones will,” said Phillips. 
     “Second, we’ll never know all the facts surrounding the case so we can’t really say what should’ve been done.  Even after his death the counseling department is not allowed to say if they ever saw him or not; they very well might have, but we’ll never know.” Phillips said.
     Legally, the counseling department cannot report a person unless they are an imminent danger to self or others.  The person must have plans, means, intent, and thought to be considered a threat.  We can obviously say he had those things now that we’ve seen the tapes, but those didn’t come out until after his death so there’s really no way authorities could have locked the shooter up beforehand without violating his rights.
     Martin Lammon, chair of the creative writing department, is a friend of Lucinda Roy, who was one of Cho’s alarmed creative writing teachers.
     “Lucinda worked very closely with Cho and was well aware of his disturbing behavior, but you can’t just make a twenty-three-year-old go to counseling,” Lammon said.  
Although Lammon believes Cho used his classes as a forum for voicing his violent tendencies, he does not think professors will react differently to violence in the future.
     “A lot of times violence is necessary in drama to tell a story.  But until that violence begins to address certain specific people or institutions, it’s not necessarily a danger in need of a red flag,” Lammon said.
     Despite the tragedy and unpredictability of these events, students have remained calm and steadfast in their daily lives.
     “I think there’s kind of a passive worry going around,” said senior Laura Harper.  “But all you do when you hide at home is empower people like this to do similar things in the future.  We can analyze these things all day but in the end it is really just a terrible isolated incident that no one saw coming.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 27 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry