1 Killed in Shootings at Virginia Tech

[shinerbock]

The news orgs are infuriating me with the continuous talk about people being angry at the school. Every student I've heard said they don't place blame on the school, but CNN especially just keeps trying to corner them into saying something. Its damn ridiculous.

[AGDee]

I agree with shinerbock on this. I keep hearing "they should have locked down the school after the first shooting" but, in almost all domestic violence cases, the violence is limited. OJ didn't go shooting up a whole bunch of people, Steven Grant (recent Michigan news) didn't kill anybody other than his wife, etc. There's no precedent or reason to believe that someone who kills their significant other in a domestic issue is going to go on to kill a bunch of others. I'm sure that if an ex/husband came into my building and killed his ex/wife and left the building, they wouldn't keep the whole building on shutdown for long. Hindsight is 20/20.

ETA: Anger is a common reaction to grief and they are looking for someone to blame or be angry at. The only person who should bear the brunt of the anger is the murderer, but he is already dead, so it makes it harder.

[mystikchick]

Collegemedia.com has a list of those confirmed dead so far - I notice a few names missing at the moment that i've seen from other stories, but if anyone would like to see the list, it's available here: http://www.collegemedia.com/stories/417-300am-none.html

[shinerbock]

Well I would completely understand if thats what the students were generally saying, but they're not! I watched someone on CNN last night corner a guy, she was relentless with the blaming the school issue, and the guy was getting visibly frustrated. I was hoping he'd just come out and say "listen, shut the hell up, either report the news and help us deal with this, or get off our campus."

[SWTXBelle]

When I tragically lost a Gamma Phi Beta sister at the age of 28 to colon cancer, it really helped when we established a scholarship in her name.
Perhaps the VT Kappas might consider establishing a fund to which her Kappa sisters and NPC cousins might contribute, to remember Caitlin and insure that her name and legacy continue . . .

[RU OX Alum]

[SydneyK]

Wow. The "Today we are all Hokies" pic actually has me in tears. So sad.

[PhiRhoSister]

Has anyone heard from Alpha Omega Epsilon (professional eng sorority) or Sigma Phi Delta (professional eng fraternity)?? Since the majority of their members are engineering majors, I have been praying that their members are ok.

[Xylochick216]

Supposedly Maxine Turner is a member of AOE. I was looking at the VT LJ group and one student had just taken her to formal on Friday. So sad

[mystikchick]

Originally Posted by PhiRhoSister

Has anyone heard from Alpha Omega Epsilon (professional eng sorority) or Sigma Phi Delta (professional eng fraternity)?? Since the majority of their members are engineering majors, I have been praying that their members are ok.

yes, i think the nytimes blog roundup about the shootings had an entry from one student saying he'd taken a girl from AOE to their formal on friday night and that nobody had heard from her yet.

the dean of the college at my school sent this out to the entire campus:

Dear All,

As we continue to receive news about the tragic moments at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University on Monday, we would like to remind members of the
Wesleyan community of our support services in the Dean's Office. Specifically, the
Office of Behavioral Health Services for Students is available 24 hours a day by
contacting ext. 2470 during the day, or ext. 2910 after business hours. In addition,
please contact any of us in the Dean's Office if we can provide assistance or
support.

Today at 2 pm the community at Virginia Tech will come together to mourn and honor
the lives of the students and professors who were victims of yesterday's violence on
that campus. In solidarity, the college bells will ring just before 2 pm, and we ask
you to observe a moment of silence and reflection.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Virginia Tech community during this
terrible time.
----

what's happening on other campuses, out of curiosity? it is nice to see people come together over this and i'm glad my school is doing something in solidarity. seeing the flags at halfmast really got to me.

[AlexMack]

It's BS, my mum was saying something like that yesterday. I told her that these things are random, not predictable, and no student wants to go to a police-state college. It's not VT's fault at all. I believe the one thing they will change (if this doesn't already exist on their campus) is the addition of surveillance cameras in the public areas of campus. UMASS has about 475 cameras all over the campus, and they're there strictly to monitor crime and perhaps identify the perpetrator. The tapes are deleted after a week and only three people in the whole university have personal access to them.
There won't be any way to make sense of this tragedy, and I'm curious as to the aftermath effects on campus life. How many students will withdraw or transfer, how many incoming freshmen will switch schools...

VAGirl-I have never hated a Korean and I'm not going to start now. Actually I really like you guys. Your food is delicious and you gave the world taekwondo and hapkido. I have a korean symbol tattoo If anyone lashes out at the Koreans it would really piss me off. No one ever said "all caucasian americans are terrible people because Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building and he's white.'

Okay, I got a bit ranterrific.

My heart goes out to the Pi Phis, the ADPis and the Kappas. Hang in there.

[Lil' Hannah]

Everyone in the DC metro area is really rallying around the Hokie Nation today...there are so many alumni and students from NoVA in the area. It's pretty touching.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by Lil' Hannah

Everyone in the DC metro area is really rallying around the Hokie Nation today...there are so many alumni and students from NoVA in the area. It's pretty touching.

I love that. It's so nice to see the good in people come out in the face of an event like this.

[JonoBN41]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

The news orgs are infuriating me with the continuous talk about people being angry at the school. Every student I've heard said they don't place blame on the school, but CNN especially just keeps trying to corner them into saying something. Its damn ridiculous.

I agree completely. This morning Jeanine Pirro was on the Today Show and her "performance" was absolutely disgusting - she tore into Virginia Tech like a pit bull, before all the facts are even known.

The only term that came to mind was "wicked". No idea why she'd want to portray herself like that at such a time. I would not vote for her for any office imaginable.

[Speechpath]

from NC State:

We would like to show our support to the Virginia Tech community by
holding a candle light vigil Tuesday, April 17 at 8:00 PM on Harris
Field. Please feel free to let any friends, relatives or community
members know about this event we are hosting and that our prayers are
with VA Tech.