And stuff like this is why internal reviews are worth their weight in... poop.

[kellinator]

Virginia Tech probe finds no fault in massacre response

"Seung-Hui Cho 'was determined to commit murder, planned the crime meticulously and managed to conceal his homicidal urges from all of law enforcement authorities, and the mental health experts who tried to help him and presumably from his own family,' Virginia Tech president Charles Steger said." 

Yep, he concealed his homicidal urges so well that Nikki Giovanni (you may have heard of her; she's a prominent American poet) had him removed from her poetry class for writing violent poetry and harrassing female classmates. The department head who afterwards worked with him one-on-one was so scared of him she devised a duress code to call security in case he became violent. And the violent plays he wrote in his other writing class had to be at least somewhat well-known, as former classmates posted them on the Internet within hours of the shooting. But never mind the writing, which last I checked was still protected by the First Amendment; university officials were aware that he had stalked at least two women. After the fact, said stalking seemed to provoke less outrage in the media than his writing; of course, they were only girls. < / SARCASM >

"In the days following the shooting, Steger defended the university's actions, saying that he initially thought the dorm room shooting was 'a domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide.'"

Tell me, President Steger, who did you think pulled the trigger? Was it Emily Hilscher, the animal-loving freshman? Or was it her resident advisor Ryan "Stack" Clark, a triple-major Habitat for Humanity volunteer who was reportedly beloved by everyone who knew him? Well it must have been him, after all he was a black guy and you know they all have guns. < / MORE SARCASM >

And why alert the rest of the campus about a domestic shooting, anyway? It's a private matter. Girl probably got what she deserved. < / EVEN MORE SARCASM >

...If you guys ever wonder again why I'm so shallow and devoted to celebrity gossip, here it is: When I look at the real world, I see all sorts of stuff just like this, stuff that I'm powerless to fix, and it makes me so angry and frustrated I can't see straight.

Comments

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Usually, you need a reason to remove a student from your class. I'm sure Ms. Giovanni gave them one, but it sounds like they didn't take it too seriously.("It's creative writing, he's being creative.") She could tell the writing came from the kid, not from a poetic persona.

Knowing how big state universities work, the paperwork having him removed from a class was probably in one office, and the department chair's was in another, and the stalking complaints were somewhere else. And college professors don't talk to each other the way high school teachers do (if I'm having trouble with Johnny, I will ask his other teachers "Hey, is Johnny giving you problems?") The other professor probably just thought she had a weirdo in class--lord knows we all get at least one each class.

So anyway, my point is that all of this evidence only comes together when someone is actually looking for it. If different divisions on campus, at all colleges, only talked to each other maybe there can be an intervention. But no, college offices would rather bitch about other offices than work with them.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, this is too correct.

And having been on the VA Tech campus, and having several friends who actually attended school there, I can vouch that it's a huge campus, with all the attendant politics and byplay that happen on a large campus.

The departments were, sadly, probably too busy jockeying for funding too get together and say "hey, this one kid is a problem in ALL of our various classes... maybe we should look at this..."

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Like I was saying to jerel, I can't argue with issues like these being legitimate problems. It's the attitude of "oh well, we did all we could," when they really didn't do anything, that leaves the sour taste in my mouth.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Yeah. But really, I never expected anything different.

Cynical? A little- but I also know from experience that they didn't do much wrong.

The good news? I read on a VA Tech website (that I cannot now find, to my chagrin) that they are planning on creating a department that will now monitor student complaints, so that something like this won't happen in the future-- and other schools around the country are going to copy their model, so that the Cho Massacre (I refuse to call it the other thing) will not be repeated.

THAT gives me hope.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Student complaints= complaints about possible violent/problem students/students who need counseling.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Hey, that is encouraging. If some good can come of it, well, then that makes it a little less terrible.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

I agree. I just hope they go through with creating the department. :)

[artricia.livejournal.com]

I think not getting this kind of information centralized *is* doing something wrong. Ostensibly, that's what the college office/dean's office is for, and there should have been policies and practices already in place for monitoring students -- not only for violence, but for all kinds of concerns.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Your points about campus bureaucracy (spelling?) are well-taken, and a hearty amen to college offices and their bitching. Not that I have any idea how to fix that... it's just that for the administration to say "yep, we did everything we could," when really nothing got done, rings hollow to my ears.