Virginia Tech: What Went Wrong?
Filed in archive University Administration by Mark on August 30, 2007
(Source: Virginia Tech)
A newly-released study details administrative failures in last April's massacre at Virginia Tech. Among other findings, the study reveals that more than two hours elapsed between the first shooting and the warning emailed to the campus community.
From the AP:
Virginia Tech officials could have saved lives if they had quickly warned the campus that two students had been shot to death and their killer was on the loose, a panel that investigated the attacks said.
Instead, it took administrators more than two hours to get out an e-mail warning students and staff to be cautious. The shooter had time to leave the dormitory where the first two victims were killed, mail a letter, and then enter a classroom building, chain the doors shut and kill 31 more people, including himself.
Even before the killings, the university had failed to properly care for the mentally troubled student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, the panel found.
One victim's mother on Thursday urged Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to "show some leadership" and fire the university's president and campus police chief for their lack of action during the April 16 attack.
Kaine, however, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the school's officials had suffered enough without losing their jobs.
"This is not something where the university officials, faculty, administrators have just been very blithe," Kaine said. "There has been deep grieving about this and it's torn the campus up."
"I want to fix this problem so I can reduce the chance of anything like this ever happening again," he said. "If I thought firings would be the way to do that, then that would be what I would focus on."
An eight-member panel appointed by Kaine spent four months investigating the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history and issued its report late Wednesday.
"Warning the students, faculty and staff might have made a difference," the panel. "So the earlier and clearer the warning, the more chance an individual had of surviving."
The first victims were shot shortly after 7 a.m. It wasn't until 9:26 a.m. that the school sent an e-mail to students and faculty warning: "Shooting on campus. The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case." Cho opened fire inside Norris Hall about 20 minutes later.
However, the panel also concluded that, while swifter warnings might have helped students and faculty, a lockdown of the 131 buildings on campus would not have been feasible. And while the first message sent by the university could have gone out at least an hour earlier and been more specific, Cho likely still would have found more people to kill, it said.
Obviously, the Virginia Tech incident represents an extreme example of campus violence. It's easy to second-guess the administration. I imagine most institutions will create emergency plans covering even the most unimaginable situations, if they haven't already.
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