Responding to Tragedy
Thank you for your even-handed and level-headed report on the Virginia Tech tragedy ["For a Moment, We Are All the Hokie Nation," April 30]. The excellent relationship between the Tech administration, the faculty, the students, and the Blacksburg townsfolk was accurately described. We are all a part of "the Hokie Nation." Regrettably, the networks' talking heads did their best to dig dirt, assign blame, and put us down as a bunch of bumbling incompetents.
DICK CULBERTSON
Virginia Tech
Class of 1950
Blacksburg, Va.
I have no words to explain the monstrous tragedy that occurred on the Virginia Tech campus on Monday morning, April 16. I know how many are dead, but I may never know how many of the lives of the victims' families and friends are forever changed. I also don't know whether more could have been done to minimize the day's carnage. What I do know is that I grew weary of the media's unstated but implied judgment of the ineptitude of our small-town cops and campus police force. The rush to blame before all the facts were in did not serve the investigative process.
ROD YOUNGMAN
Professor of Entomology
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Va.
The student victims at Virginia Tech might very well be alive today had the school administration not abrogated its first responsibility-keeping its students safe from harm ["What Went Wrong?"April 30]. The administration knew that Seung Hui Cho was a stalker, wrote morbid, violent, hate-filled plays, set fire to his room, and even frightened professors and students to the point of being barred from class, yet it did nothing! As long as there are no consequences for bad behavior-let alone expulsion for outrageous behavior-we will witness more of the same. Administrators have the obligation to expel anyone who clearly demonstrates the propensity to harm others. For too long we have focused on judicial responsibility, mental health dictates, and gun-control strictures as means of preventing such heinous acts. Instead, we must make protection of students an administrative responsibility, on a par with fulfilling their educational mandate.
LYNN FIELD
Jamesburg, N.J.
In "What Went Wrong?" You used the word random in the introduction "The insanity and mayhem unleashed at Virginia Tech was a random and rare event." There could be nothing further from the truth, as the rest of the article points out. There is a great pattern of killings in the United States, even in schools and universities. This is a very violent country. We need to come to terms with the reality that a sick society produces sick people. The answer is not in just removing guns; it is much more basic. America, when will you wake up?
RICHARD KIMBALL
Professor Emeritus
California State University-Hayward
In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, the usual authorities are fielding the usual solutions to our nation's problem of gun violence. We're at the usual political impasse about what to do. Here's a simple, cost-free compromise that might actually win support both from gun owners and advocates of gun control. Require persons seeking a gun license to undergo a four-hour, in-person psychiatric examination. If they refuse or fail the exam, applicants are denied a gun license. Had Virginia authorities required Cho to undergo a psychiatric examination, he would almost certainly have failed it and been denied a gun license. The cost of this psychiatric examination would be paid by the examinee, not by the taxpayer. This solution does not take guns away from anyone who deserves to have one, so gun owners should welcome it. It does subject gun owners to a test of sanity, so control advocates should welcome it, too.
IVAN LIGHT
Professor of Sociology
University of California-Los Angeles
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