Virginia Tech: What Went Right?

With all the criticism of the events at Virginia Tech, there is much bandwagon jumping. There were many things that went right. I have seen many people ready to crucify Virginia Tech President Dr. Charles W. Steger for his actions on April 16, 2007, personally, I praise him.

Virginia Tech is a 2600 acre college, which is home to over 25,000 students over 100 buildings. Obviously, such a campus is difficult to secure. The campus is protected by its own police force, which is supplemented by local Blacksburg Police. Hours after the attacks, there were reports of parents and other, non involved persons, calling for Dr. Stegers resignation, siting his inability to secure the campus after the initial shootings. Heres the rub. How was Dr. Steger supposed to "lock down" a campus of that size and keep 25,000 students from moving about? Come on people, its not as easy as flipping a light switch. Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum and his officers responded to, what appeared to be an isolated shooting in a dormitory. There was no way of knowing that the suspect would return to campus two hours later. In the minutes following the initial 911 call to campus police, the campus was indeed locked down, as best it could be. Students were told to stay in their rooms and lock their doors. However, after it was determined that the suspect was no longer on campus, or dead in the case of the murder/suicide theory, there was no reason to continue the lock down. There was absolutely no evidence that the shooter, if he wasn't dead, would return to the campus to commit the horrible tragedy

What purpose would continuing the lock down serve? Disrupt students lives even more? Draw attention to, what seemed to be, an isolated incident? Cause fear and panic amongst ill informed students? The bottom line is, there was no reason to do so. I can understand the parents being upset, their children just lost their lives, their irrational thought is justified. However, I see much of the country, jumping on the bandwagon. Dr. Steger did absolutely the right thing in releasing the lock down, allowing the students to resume normal daily activities. The campus is not a prison, it is impossible to secure it in such a way, and any attempt to do so, would only allow the terrorists to win, and yes, I consider this individual to be a terrorist, because his actions only existed to serve the purpose of inciting terror.

Obviously, what happened on April 16th was a terrible tragedy. The key in dealing with security after such an incident is not to over react. The natural reaction is to lock everything down, don't let anyone move, control everything, but where does that leave you? It leaves you in a state of fear, and no safer then you were before. The strength of terrorists, and those like this student who commit terror acts, is based out of fear. It is the fear of their actions that changes our way of life. Those changes are the true attack, keeping us prisoner in our own homes, or schools. Forcing us to look over our shoulder, wondering when and where the next attack is going to come. We cant let these fears over ride our common sense. Dr. Stager understood this, and that is why he allowed his students to continue about their day after the initial shooting, because to not do so would contribute to the fear. Sure, if class wasn't in session, the student may not have found his victims in a confined room like he did, but the fact that he was a student allowed him access to areas where people were. He would have found victims, no matter what.

Its a sad day when a student can walk around his campus and kill 32 of his fellow students, its a sadder day when we allow the possibility of such an incident to control our daily lives. The college, college police, local police, and federal level forces all came together and did everything right in dealing with an incident which in a past life would have been inconceivable. Let's not let the real terror strike, we need to get back on our feet, and continue daily life, and show those who would incite terror that they can not control us.