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

[ryver.livejournal.com]

The university I work at is less than 20 miles away from Tech and is their "sister" school. I politely disagree with your opinion. When the first 2 bodies were found, Emily's roommate told the police that Emily's boyfriend and she had a fight the night prior and he "had guns" They were trying to locate the boyfriend at the time when the 2nd shooting happened. At 8am more than half the university was either in transit to campus or on campus and if classes had been released the entire drillfield would've been full with students with an easy vantage point to take out as many students as possible. I believe had classes been released instead of lockdown, more people would've died.

I lost 2 friends in the massacre and still feel hurt and upset by it but after talking to police on the scene, EMTs and 2 FBI agents, I have to agree that within the limits set by the state of VA, nothing more could've been done. If a student displays mental health problems in a class it is almost impossible to have them removed from your class. I have personal experience with this one. I have to believe that the University did nothing wrong, but the state laws need to be changed.

We are all entitled to our opinions but again, I'll have to disagree with you on this one.

[ryver.livejournal.com]

And I have to add, both Tech and my school (and I'm sure many others) have added MANY security measures to help students which btw they complain about more than anything else.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

which btw they complain about more than anything else

This so totally does not surprise me.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

Let us, for a moment, assume that there's 1/100,000 chance per year of you being murdered by some random nutjob on campus. (The odds are actually much lower than that in fact.)

Now, how many minutes a day are you willing to sacrifice "improving security"? Would you spend 2 minutes to detour through a single door with a guard (and have them close the other entrances)? Would you spend 10 minutes a day waiting to go through a metal detector? What about 20 minutes with everyone getting a strip search and having to wear lab gear?

We have the same problems with the absurd over-reactions to airplane security. Adding reinforced, locked cockpit doors did some good. Making me throw away my 8 oz water bottle-- not so much.

You have to do a cost/benefit analysis for all of these changes. (And unfortunately, the "benefit" is all for the TSA and the school administration on the off chance they prevent a problem, and the "cost" is all borne by the travelers and the students in inconvenience.)

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this information (and doing so so civilly, too, which I really appreciate). I did not know that about the boyfriend, and the thought of a drillfield full of targets is horrifying. I wish the article had mentioned that information, as it presents the university's actions in a much better light.

I'm very sorry for your losses.

[ryver.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your concern.

The National Media did a terrible job with this story. So much was left out and in my opinion made Steger WAY too much out to be the bad guy. It is a sad reality of today I fear, and I work in Media Studies!

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Would it be okay with you if I quoted/linked to your previous comment?

[ryver.livejournal.com]

Sure, where might I ask?