University Police beef up training, introduce new technology
description: By: Ryan Norman Posted: 8/23/07 With the looming arrival of the fall semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University Police are preparing for the increased number of on-campus students. University Police are hoping to stay ahead of crime by supplementing training and implementing new technology, said Jim Davis, the education and personnel officer of the University Police. "We have been preparing this summer by training for drug and alcohol-related situations," Davis said. "We have also taken time to study more on action and reaction to hostage situations, in reaction to Virginia Tech." Davis said, along with increased training, the University Police have hired a new officer, Michael Eckel, to increase student safety. The University Police are also planning on using two new online tools to help students. By second semester, the University Police hope to have a system in place where students can register valuable items online in case of campus theft. "We are trying to go out this year and entice everyone to register bicycles and electronics with us." Davis said. "Anything valuable students want to register, we want to be able to put in a system that we can pull up if that item disappears." Capt. Carl Oestmann of University Police said the department implemented another online tool this summer called UNLAlert. UNLAlert is a program which can be downloaded to any computer and will be used to alert university students, parents and staff members in case of a campus emergency. The program can be downloaded at http://emergency.unl.edu/unlalert.shtml. "If you download the program, and have your computer on during a campus emergency, we can send out an emergency message that will automatically come up on your screen," Oestmann said. "It is another tool we can use to alert the campus community in case of an emergency." Even with the new safety measures, the beginning of the fall semester inevitably causes an increase in several problems, including traffic and theft,…
creator: Ryan Norman
publisher: Daily Nebraskan
date: 2007-09-03
contributor: Sara AA Hood
rights: Josh Swartzlander <jdwriter19@yahoo.com>
language: eng

Church continues to carry on without pastor
description: By: Ryan Norman Posted: 4/25/07 Events such as the Virginia Tech shooting can be hard on some students. Besides psychological services, students seeking counseling can also find help at campus ministries. Cornerstone Church at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, however, is having more trouble providing this service. The former campus pastor of the church, Melissa Finlaw Draper, became the pastor at Northeast United Church of Christ earlier this semester. This left Cornerstone without an on-site pastor, said Lew Kaye-Skinner, an English lecturer as well as faculty adviser and chair of the ministry board for Cornerstone-United Ministries in Higher Education. "The current absence of a pastor on staff has meant that we have not been able to respond as quickly as might otherwise happen to issues such as the Virginia Tech massacre," Kaye-Skinner wrote in an e-mail interview. Kaye-Skinner said the mission of Cornerstone is to bring the message of God to campus and respond to the needs of students. Because Cornerstone currently doesn't have a pastor, volunteers have been providing these services. "Volunteers have had to fill in," Kaye-Skinner wrote. "For instance, we have had to supply pastors for the Sunday evening worship services at Cornerstone since the first of February." Worship services haven't been the problem, said Jessica Lauer, a senior philosophy and religious studies major and intern at Cornerstone Church. It's the services not on Sundays, such as prayer groups and bible studies, that have suffered. "These events are always a time of great fellowship and fun for students, and we haven't been able to do much of that," Lauer said. Kaye-Skinner said the search for a pastor is progressing but isn't moving quite as quickly as he would like. "It has been very difficult finding qualified applicants for the position," Kaye-Skinner wrote. Cornerstone has been struggling with low attendance this year, and it hasn't been easy to improve campus involvement without a pasto…
creator: Ryan Norman
date: 2007-09-03
contributor: Sara AA Hood
rights: Josh Swartzlander <jdwriter19@yahoo.com>
language: eng

Gut Reactions
description: by S L Kim | April 17, 2007 1. Race Shame As soon as I saw the shooter's name--Cho Seung-Hui--in the NYT this morning, I knew he was Korean. Crap. Ever since I got home last night after teaching, and my husband told me about the deadly shooting spree at Virginia Tech, I'd been wondering, like everyone else, about the gunman. Knowing he was a "young Asian man" made me maybe slightly more curious than I normally might have been, and finding out his name made my heart sink a little more. He's being described in the NYT as a "South Korean who was a resident alien in the United States," a 23-year-old senior English major. At first I imagined one of those Korean students who are sent to the US by themselves, as high school or college students, by families eager for them to get an American education at whatever cost. These students, with varying levels of English-speaking skills, are sent all over, to far-flung corners of the US. But it turns out that this "resident alien" came to the states with his family in 1992, when he was 7 or 8 years old. Wouldn't that make him, culturally speaking, an American? It's not so much that I'm afraid of outbreaks of violence against Koreans or Asians in general, but I worry about the generalizations and pop psychology pablum that will reinforce ugly stereotypes and perpetuate tacit forms of racism in the name of "understanding what happened." You know, looking for things in his culture or his upbringing that might have contributed, all the while the implicit message is: watch out for the quiet Asian guys, because they might just go crazy. 2. Media Rhetoric Already, the shooter is described as a "loner," already the profiles emerge about these killers on a rampage. The photos of him are now circulating, and he's described as expressionless. Apparently, he left a note with a list of grievances and he wrote disturbing stories in his creative writing class. It seems too easy to map the symptoms of pathology onto the stereotypical features of …
creator: S L Kim
date: 2007-05-26
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0
language: eng

Librescu Day
description: By Salah Obeid Online Journal Contributing Writer Jun 8, 2007, 00:27 There isn't room enough on the calendar to honor every American hero, but Aug. 16, the birthday of one such hero, is a day teachers and others who cherish education should make a point of celebrating. No one knows what drove Liviu Librescu, four months short of his 77th birthday, to martyr himself to the cause of education. But that is what Librescu, a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor and mechanical engineering professor, did when he blocked a gunman from entering his Virginia Tech University classroom on April 16 -- earning him five bullets, one of them to the head -- so that most of his students could escape through the windows. Because he was slain in a public learning institution, public schools are where he should be celebrated. And because Librescu (the root of whose name, "libre," is Latin for "free") came to America searching for freedom, those who teach subjects like U.S. history and government should make honoring him a lesson on where his adopted country truly stands on freedom. By the time they enter college, many students in this country can't think critically about history and politics, having rarely been encouraged in school to think creatively outside of art and music class. Yet wolfing down hot dogs and soaking up sun on a field trip to celebrate Librescu Day could amount to more than just indigestion and sunburn, if the day were also an occasion for students to reflect on how their country, a magnet for immigrants seeking freedom, too often deprives people in other countries of the very freedoms Americans enjoy. Throughout its history, the United States has -- in places like Latin America, Haiti, the Philippines and elsewhere -- picked fights at the drop of a dime whenever dollars were to be made, a fact that is largely ignored in classrooms around the country. The result is that, as the country gets bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, many students don't know any better than to …
creator: Salah Obeid
date: 2007-06-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Bev Conover, Editor and Publisher, Online Journal (editor_oj@yahoo.com or editor@onlinejournal.com)
language: eng

'Rest in Peace'
description: Creado por: Salinger (a.k.a. Al Valdes) Posteado por Äl a las 2:37 AM Tarde, pero no quiero que las fatales e inocentes victimas de Virginia Tech caigan en el olvido de este mi humilde blog. Por ende, quiero escribir unas palabras en su recuerdo. Ya se que no tiene remedio, pero todos esperamos que descanseis en paz. Sabemos que no lo mereciais, ni vosotros ni las familias, ni la ciudad, ni siquiera el mundo entero. No empañaré vuestra memoria mencionando al instigador de semejante atrocidad. Total, es lo que queria, visto lo visto. Y tampoco voy a entrar en nacionalidades, razas o credos. Todos somos iguales, para bien o para mal. Alla donde esteis, 'Rest in Peace'. -- Fuente Original: Acuse de Recibo Retazos Sutiles en forma soñica, España. http://parajeremoto.blogspot.com/2007/04/rest-in-peace.html Licencia de uso: Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 2.5 España
creator: Salinger (a.k.a. Al Valdes)
date: 2007-07-30
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 2.5 España
language: spa

From Palestine to Virginia Tech: We are with you in this Time of Pain
description: Posted by Sami Awad on April 20th, 2007 Two days ago a tragic event took place in Virginia Tech in the US that shocked not only the people of the United States but people all across the globe. A violent massacre took place there that resulted in thirty two killed, individuals who presented different cultures, religions and nationalities. In a sign of solidarity the people of Palestine in general and those from the Sothern villages surrounding the Holy city of Bethlehem dedicated their weekly nonviolent activity against the building of Apartheid wall to the families of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Every Friday, Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli nonviolent activists gather in the Southern villages of Bethlehem to protest against the building of the Apartheid Wall that will eventually destroy the livelihood of these villages. This Friday, the protest began with a silent procession by the group of about fifty participants. We carried banners and leaflets with the Virginia Tech logo and statements supporting them in this time of pain. Thirty two olive trees were also carried in the procession to remember each person killed in the massacre. The olive tree is a global symbol of peace and hope. Once we reached the path created by the by the bulldozers for the building of the Apartheid Wall we dug the earth and plated the thirty two olive trees in a row - instead of building an ugly wall that divides people, let us plant trees that bring people together. Several of the participants made statements condemning the violence that we all, as the human family are witnessing and condemning the building of the Apartheid wall and the killing of innocents. Over 150 Israeli soldiers came to dismantle our protest. Our commitment to nonviolence and to achieve our goal completely paralyzed their weapons and their goals and eventually our power made them withdrawal. The planting of the trees was followed by reciting the names of all those who were killed in the Virgin…
creator: Sami Awad
date: 2007-05-19
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

From Palestine to Virginia Tech
description: Every Friday, Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli nonviolent activists gather in the Southern villages of Bethlehem to protest against the building of the Apartheid Wall that will eventually destroy the livelihood of these villages. This Friday [April 20, 2007], the protest began with a silent procession by the group of about fifty participants. We carried banners and leaflets with the Virginia Tech logo and statements supporting them in this time of pain. Thirty two olive trees were also carried in the procession to remember each person killed in the massacre. The olive tree is a global symbol of peace and hope. -- Archived with permission. Original source: http://samiawad.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/
creator: Sami Awad (Text) and Muhamad Zboun - PNN (Photo)
date: 2007-08-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Sami Awad (sami@holylandtrust.org)
language: eng

From Palestine to Virginia Tech
description: Every Friday, Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli nonviolent activists gather in the Southern villages of Bethlehem to protest against the building of the Apartheid Wall that will eventually destroy the livelihood of these villages. This Friday [April 20, 2007], the protest began with a silent procession by the group of about fifty participants. We carried banners and leaflets with the Virginia Tech logo and statements supporting them in this time of pain. Thirty two olive trees were also carried in the procession to remember each person killed in the massacre. The olive tree is a global symbol of peace and hope. Once we reached the path created by the by the bulldozers for the building of the Apartheid Wall we dug the earth and plated the thirty two olive trees in a row - instead of building an ugly wall that divides people, let us plant trees that bring people together. Several of the participants made statements condemning the violence that we all, as the human family are witnessing and condemning the building of the Apartheid wall and the killing of innocents. Over 150 Israeli soldiers came to dismantle our protest. Our commitment to nonviolence and to achieve our goal completely paralyzed their weapons and their goals and eventually our power made them withdrawal. -- Archived with permission. Original Source: http://samiawad.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/
creator: Sami Awad (Text) and Muhamad Zboun - PNN (Photo)
date: 2007-08-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Sami Awad (sami@holylandtrust.org)
language: eng

From Palestine to Virginia Tech
description: Every Friday, Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli nonviolent activists gather in the Southern villages of Bethlehem to protest against the building of the Apartheid Wall that will eventually destroy the livelihood of these villages. This Friday [April 20, 2007], the protest began with a silent procession by the group of about fifty participants. We carried banners and leaflets with the Virginia Tech logo and statements supporting them in this time of pain. Thirty two olive trees were also carried in the procession to remember each person killed in the massacre. The olive tree is a global symbol of peace and hope. Once we reached the path created by the by the bulldozers for the building of the Apartheid Wall we dug the earth and plated the thirty two olive trees in a row - instead of building an ugly wall that divides people, let us plant trees that bring people together. Several of the participants made statements condemning the violence that we all, as the human family are witnessing and condemning the building of the Apartheid wall and the killing of innocents. -- Archived with permission. Original Source: http://samiawad.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/
creator: Sami Awad (Text) and Muhamad Zboun - PNN (Photo)
date: 2007-08-14
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Sami Awad (sami@holylandtrust.org)
language: eng

Losing Students: Virginia Tech
description: by SamiSunshine That is a prime example of colleges not looking into the right cases and not checking up on people. Once Cho started to stalk people, he should have been expelled. They seem to spend more time fighting underage drinking than sexual assult. Relating that to the U of A, at one of the dorms my friend was staying with a girl who had moved into her room from another dorm. What my friend didn't know was that the girl was moved from the other room for taking a knife and slashing up the furniture and threatening people. Finally my friend got really scared because the girl did something similar again and instead of kicking the psycho girl out, they moved my friend in with another girl and the psycho has her own room. In this same dorm, another friend got kicked out of the dorm system because his roommates said he didn't clean and said he was smoking pot while there was no evidence of the fact. And counselors and administrators never get back to you. I had a really bad panic attack the night before an exam and I couldn't take it because of some harm I did to myself and I explained that to the dean's secretary who said that she was going to refer me to counselors who would call me in the next few day. They never called. I finally went to the counselors on my own and a lady gave me the names of therapists and said she would call in the next few days. She never called. I could have been so far on the edge that I could have harmed myself or others. I could have been another Cho. But, the university decided to not check up on me, a severely stressed out, freaked out person who was living in the dorms with many other students. I could have been a risk to others and they still did not make sure that I wasn't a threat to myself or others. I wouldn't be surprised if that had happened at Virginia Tech. Don't blame strict/lax gun laws, violence in the media, or society in general: blame the people who were supposed to be protecting, mentoring, and caring for the students…
creator: SamiSunshine
date: 2007-05-24
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5
language: eng

VirginiaTech: 32 muertos, 4.3 millones de cómplices y 6.000 millones de víctimas
description: Creado por Santiago Bustelo April 17th, 2007 La masacre estudiantil en Virginia Tech ocurrida ayer (lunes 16 de abril de 2007) ha vuelto a instalar la discusión de algunos de los valores de la sociedad norteamericana y del resto del mundo... de una manera tan estéril como en ocasiones anteriores. Los cómplices, o el lado correcto de la mira En el tema de la regulación de armas, las opiniones en Norteamérica son opuestas. Básicamente, porque dependen de qué lado de la mira esté -o crea estar- quien opina. La Asociación del Rifle Americano (NRA) cuenta con 4.3 millones de miembros, lo que la convierte en la ONG más grande del mundo. En esta ocasión, al igual que en todos los casos anteriores, sus miembros y autoridades están preparados a expresar sus condolencias... y a dejar claro que no creen que la facilidad con la que se pueden conseguir en EE.UU. armas diseñadas para matar a una gran cantidad de gente en poco tiempo y con un mínimo esfuerzo, tenga algo que ver con que alguien haya decidido -nuevamente- ponerlo en práctica. Claro que no sólo en EE.UU. ocurren masacres de este tipo. En el resto del mundo, cada tanto algún Don Nadie se siente inspirado por quienes pasaron a la historia atentando gratuitamente contra la vida de los demás. Que las armas no estén al alcance de cualquiera, impide a la mayoría pasar a la acción. En el caso de la masacre estudiantil de Carmen de Patagones, Argentina, el perpetrador era el hijo de un policía: le bastó con abrir un cajón para pasar a los hechos. Los miembros de la NRA creen que portar armas garantiza su seguridad personal. O sea, que tener un arma les asegura mágicamente estar del lado correcto de la mira, y que otros no los consideren como un blanco posible. Mientras que la realidad es que en el momento en que alguien nos está apuntando, tener un arma (descargada y prolijamente guardada en un lugar seguro para evitar que nuestros hijos se vuelen la cabeza por accidente), difícilmente haga una dif…
creator: Santiago Bustelo
date: 2007-07-30
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 2.5 Argentina
language: spa

Pychoanalysis won't fully explain VT killer
description: Published: Friday, April 27, 2007 Opinion articles By: Carol Duh My parents immigrated into this country in 1982. My parents told me a Taiwanese parable while I attended the same schools as Mike Pohle, one of the 32 victims of last week's massacre. In the story, a teacher took his class on a field trip to the mountains of Taiwan. On the way home, they encountered a swarm of killer bees. The teacher removed his clothing to attract the bees away from the children to his flesh. I heard the echoes of this parable while reading about Liviu Librescu, the professor who blocked the classroom door with his body while the gunman demanded entry. While he did this, students escaped through the windows. No doubt that being stung by bullets was agonizing. There was little dignity in these painful deaths, only in their sacrifice. And what of the bee? The bee who stings out of cowardice dies soon after, so we cannot ask. Panicked, we call in the world-class bee experts to explain the situation. This response, though gratifying, is in vain. Like Wall Street analysts who offer their best predictions after the fact, the analysis will not provide us with the protection we need. The bee and Seung Cho perceived threats that were not real; their behavior escapes appreciation. Let's try anyway. His parents were South Korean immigrants who sent a daughter to Princeton and a son to Virginia Tech — a feat worthy to boast of across many oceans. College is the frame upon which immigrants hang their hopes, but sometimes it comes at a price. The drive that steers us toward hard work is often frustrated by the apparent frivolity that pervades American campus culture. Fraternity keggers, society taps — these seem to be the cornerstones of the American college student's anxiety. To the ethic of a different culture, they are laughable. Seung Cho's complaints, through lunacy, tap the drumbeat of this disappointment. Seung Cho's two defining characteristics continue to be his mental health and his …
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-Chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Mental hygiene weighs tough options
description: Published: Friday, April 27, 2007 Maggie Reid Staff Reporter In her sophomore year at Yale, Naasiha Siddiqui '07 found herself facing more problems than just the sophomore slump. Siddiqui was severely depressed, and when she checked into the Mental Hygiene Department at University Health Services, she was forced to leave school on medical withdrawal. Ever since, she has struggled to balance manic depression with a college career — taking three forced withdrawals and one voluntary leave of absence, and applying for readmission five times. "I was really frustrated," she said, referring to her first forced withdrawal in the fall of 2001. "Their attitude was, 'She's unstable, we don't want her at school right now.' In one respect, it seemed like discrimination because I was doing all I could to try to stay in school. But on the other hand, the administration should have some say over when students aren't fit to go to school." Mental illness has long been a hot-button issue on college campuses, but in the wake of this month's shootings at Virginia Tech, even greater scrutiny has been placed on university support systems for students with psychological illnesses. At Yale, the Mental Hygiene Department specializes in counseling and crisis intervention for suicide and depression cases. But in seeking to protect the psychological health of its students, Yale's mental health services must walk the fine line between enabling students to receive treatment while remaining in school and protecting the student's health and safety — or the health and safety of others — by sending seriously depressed students off campus. For the most part, universities across the country find themselves in a sticky situation with regard to mentally ill students. Universities may be found liable if they fail to detect and respond to cases that result in suicide or murder. But privacy and anti-discrimination laws limit the amount of information about students' mental health to which administrato…
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Weapons to go off stage
description: Published: Friday, April 20, 2007 Courtney Long Staff Reporter and Copy Editor In the wake of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech in which a student killed 32 people, Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg has limited the use of stage weapons in theatrical productions. Students involved in this weekend's production of "Red Noses" said they first learned of the new rules on Thursday morning, the same day the show was slated to open. They were subsequently forced to alter many of the scenes by swapping more realistic-looking stage swords for wooden ones, a change that many students said was neither a necessary nor a useful response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. According to students involved in the production, Trachtenberg has banned the use of some stage weapons in all of the University's theatrical productions. While shows will be permitted to use obviously fake plastic weapons, students said, those that hoped to stage more realistic scenes of stage violence have had to make changes to their props. Trachtenberg could not be reached for comment Thursday night. "Red Noses" director Sarah Holdren '08 said she first heard about the changes in a phone call from a friend as she arrived at the Off-Broadway Theater on Thursday morning. At the theater, technical director Jim Brewczynski told her about the new regulations. The pair then met with Trachtenberg, who initially wanted no stage weapons to be used in the show, Holdren said, though she later agreed to permit the use of obviously fake weapons. In a speech made before last night's opening show of "Red Noses," Holdren said that Trachtenberg's decision to force the production to use wooden swords instead of metal swords will do little to stem violence in the world. "Calling for an end to violence onstage does not solve the world's suffering: It merely sweeps it under the rug, turning theater — in the words of this very play — into 'creamy bon-bons' instead of 'solid fare' for a thinking, feeling audience," she …
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-Chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Elis decry ban on stage weapon use
description: Published: Monday, April 23, 2007 Cullen Macbeth Staff Reporter Members of Yale's undergraduate theater community reacted with anger over the weekend to Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg's decision to bar performance groups — at least temporarily — from using life-like weapons in their productions. The new rule is meant to protect audience members who may have connections to last week's deadly gun massacre at Virginia Tech University or who may react adversely to violence on stage because of personal experiences, Trachtenberg said. But many students said the new restrictions represent inappropriate censorship of student artwork and that Trachtenberg should not have implemented them without soliciting student input beforehand. The new restrictions were put in place to protect people in the Yale and New Haven communities who live or have friends who live in Virginia, or who have seen people die by gun violence, Trachtenberg said. She said the outcry from students upset with her decision has been exaggerated. "I think people should start thinking about other people rather than trying to feel sorry for themselves and thinking that the administration is trying to thwart their creativity," Trachtenberg said. "They're not using their own intelligence. ... We have to think of the people who might be affected by seeing real-life weapons." The new restrictions do not ban all types of stage weapons, Trachtenberg said. She said she did not prevent an instructor in theater studies who talked to her on Friday from using a dulled knife to cut a cabbage head in a production, for example. This weekend's productions of "Red Noses" and "Orpheus in the Underworld" were affected by the rule change. "Red Noses" had to substitute wooden swords for more realistic-looking ones after learning of the rule from Trachtenberg on Thursday. The University overstepped its bounds by prohibiting the ways in which students can express themselves on stage, said Dara Lind '09, who has manag…
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-Chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Stage weapons ban reversed
description: Published: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Tyler Hill Staff Reporter After a weekend of national media coverage and student outcry, administrators decided Monday to rescind the ban on stage weapons that was enacted in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. Last week, Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg told several students that realistic-looking stage weapons would no longer be permitted in Yale theatrical productions. Amid concerns that the restriction was inhibiting free speech, a group of administrators decided Monday to overturn the policy, Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky said. In the future, Yale will require that audiences be warned before performances that include scenes with fake weapons, she said. Trachtenberg had originally intended to ban all stage weapons, but was persuaded that obviously fake weapons should be permitted, Sarah Holdren '08 told the News last Thursday. Holdren directed this weekend's production of "Red Noses," which was forced to use wooden swords instead of more realistic props. The restriction also affected the opera "Orpheus in the Underworld," which used balloon swords in place of its real-looking stage weapons. News of the University's reversal was only released when a reporter from the Associated Press called Klasky on Monday evening to ask about the original restriction. Students have not yet been officially informed of the change in policy, Klasky said. Administrators, including Yale President Richard Levin, weighed in on the decision to overturn the ban after it became apparent that it concerned issues of free speech, Levin said. Although the administration will not censor future shows, he said, the Dean of Student Affairs still has the authority to regulate student productions. "The fundamental consideration was trading off artistic freedom of expression against concern about the potential emotional precariousness of audiences during the week of a mass murder," he said. "There was a different approach which hadn't been consid…
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-06-11
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Editor-in-Chief, Yale Daily News - Sarah Mishkin <sarah.mishkin@gmail.com>
language: eng

Security, Duke response raise some concerns
description: By: Zak Kazzaz Posted: 4/18/07 Two days after the Monday massacre at Virginia Tech, students nationwide remained on edge Tuesday as more details of the tragedy emerged and additional security threats occurred on several other college campuses. A bomb threat at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Monday, just hours after the Virginia Tech shootings, caused university officials to evacuate two buildings there. Another threat received Tuesday at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, prompted the university to evacuate buildings and dormitories and cancel the entire day's classes. Although many Duke students said they are not worried about a similar catastrophe in Durham, several said that there are safety concerns for which the University cannot account. "What terrifies me, and what I'm sure terrifies most people, is that it was random," freshman Kate Van Buskirk said. "He just went in and started killing people." Some parents of Duke students also said they have been gripped by fear and anxiety regarding the issue. "I don't know what can happen or what can be done," said Ruth Azimi, parent of a Duke freshman and a Virginia resident. "On campus, everybody can get in, nobody asks for IDs, and now that's kind of scary." John Burness, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, said Duke is currently evaluating all of its security and response practices. He added that the University is considering a system that can send out a mass text message to all students in case of an emergency. "Let's remind people what's going on, and dust [the emergency systems] off, and make sure they still work," Burness said. Junior Paul Slattery, the incoming president of Duke Student Government, said that text messages, however, might not fully address the issue. "What if a student doesn't have service or doesn't have their cell phone?" Slattery said. The shooter's student status at Virginia Tech makes such an incident very hard to predict since universities pl…
creator: Sara Hood
publisher: Duke Chronicle
date: 2007-06-24
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
language: eng

'We Are One': C.U. Community Reflects on Va. Tech Tragedy
description: By Lisa Grossman Sun Staff Writer Apr 20 2007 Students, faculty, staff and members of the Ithaca community gathered in Sage Chapel yesterday afternoon to remember and reflect on the recent tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Despite the fact that the service was held at 12:30 p.m., when many students and faculty are in class, the chapel was packed to capacity, with people pressed against the walls and in doorways. The assembly fell silent as Prof. Annette Richards, music, opened the service with a melancholy and discordant organ solo. The mood remained hushed and somber as W. Kent Fuchs, the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering and father of Eric Fuchs, a junior at Virginia Tech, began the speaking portion of the service. Fuchs focused on the connections that Cornell shares with Virginia Tech as a major university, saying that Cornell and Virginia Tech are "part of the same family of students and faculty and staff." Words of hope.Words of hope."The tragedy is particularly difficult to comprehend because ... of the contrast to the love and care demonstrated by the students and faculty at that university. The tragedy is also an enormous contrast to the common mission that we have and that we share in: the joy of learning and study," he said. Fuchs spoke with emotion and even a little humor, saying that "from Eric, I've come to appreciate what it means to have a turkey for your mascot, and to call yourself a 'Hokie,' which my son does with enormous pride." President David J. Skorton echoed Fuchs' emphasis on family and unity, repeating, in tones that might be used to recite a poem, "We are one." "We are one — one community, one people, one planet. We are here today to affirm that oneness," he said. "We share the same sorrow and the same need for comfort and reassurance ... We will stay together, we will go forward together, we will never forget our loss. We are one." Provost Biddy Martin was in Virginia, her native state, visiting her mother…
creator: Sara Hood
publisher: Cornell Daily Sun
date: 2007-07-02
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
language: eng

Student privacy under scrutiny
description: Shooting sparks national debate By: Eric Johnson, Senior Writer Posted: 5/24/07 Congress is wading into the turbulent debate about campus safety in the aftermath of last month's shootings at Virginia Tech and is considering possible changes to federal laws governing student privacy. A bill to loosen disclosure restrictions for campuses dealing with at-risk students is already attracting attention in the House, and similar measures are being drafted in the Senate. Meanwhile, the UNC-system will consider during the next few months whether to back any move to alter long-standing federal policy about the disclosure of student health records. "In Washington, there's a lot of attention on this issue," said Kimrey Rhinehardt, UNC-system vice president for federal relations. "I think that certainly now, more than ever, the university is going to be a part of that discussion." The April 16 shooting of 32 students at Virginia Tech by a classmate with a documented history of mental instability has prompted colleges across the country to reevaluate their security procedures. It has also drawn national attention to the vague guidelines that govern when and how campuses can respond to threatening or self-destructive behavior by a student. Federal law prohibits universities from contacting a student's parents unless the student presents an imminent danger to himself or others, a standard that is open to wide interpretation. In recent years, campuses have been sued for taking preemptive measures against troubled students in some instances and for failing to take preemptive action in others. As a result, most campus administrators have welcomed the opportunity to review the existing statutes. "I think there's enough confusion now that most institutions would tell you that it could hardly get any worse," said Becky Timmons, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education. "Institutions may assume that scrutinizing this legislation would lend som…
creator: Sara Hood
date: 2007-07-16
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kevin Schwartz <kschwartz@unc.edu>
language: eng

High schoolers still in shock
description: The shootings at Virginia Tech on Monday hit too close to home for some students and faculty at both Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools high schools. Many said they worried that several recent graduates of East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill high schools who now attend Virginia Tech could have been victims, but no alumni are among those reported dead. "There's great sympathy among our students and concern for graduates from our schools who may have been attending Virginia Tech and to get in contact with the person and make sure they're safe," said Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations for the district. Linda Klemmer, counseling department chairwoman at Chapel Hill High, said students and faculty expressed anxiety about alumni. "There was some concern for students that had siblings and friends at Virginia Tech," she said. "I got a sense of sadness and shock," she added, as she described the students' moods in wake of the incident. Her department is open to students who want to talk to someone about the shootings, she said. Owen McDonnell, a freshman at Virginia Tech and graduate of Chapel Hill High, was one of the people those at home worried about. "A lot of people were saying they tried to call me and couldn't," he said. McDonnell traveled back to Chapel Hill late Tuesday to be with family after Monday's tragedy struck his campus, but he said he's eager to get back to the daily grind of classes. "I think it's important to get back to normal after having a week to grieve," he said. But students at one of the district's high schools already have experienced gun violence on campus. Last April, William Barrett Foster, then a student at East Chapel Hill High, took social studies teacher Lisa Kukla and student Chelsea Slegal hostage after school. Kukla and Slegal eventually were able to talk to Foster, and they convinced him to shoot out a window instead of killing them. Knott said last year's incident helped calm students' and faculty's fe…
creator: Sara Hood
publisher: Daily Tar Heel
date: 2007-07-27
contributor: Sara Hood
rights: Kevin Schwartz <kschwartz@unc.edu>
language: eng