It's the deadliest campus shooting in the U.S. ever: 22 33 people, including students, were killed at Virginia Tech University by senior Seung-hui Cho a gunman whose name has not yet been released, this morning; one in a dormitory and the rest in a classroom. [Update 9:26 p.m.: 33 are dead, and 15 more are wounded, and rumors among the students are that the shooting was started as an argument between a boyfriend and girlfriend. There was one incident in the dorms, in which two students were killed, and a separate incident in classrooms later.] The gunman too was shot, either by police or at his own hands. A dorm lockdown has now been lifted, but campus buildings will be closed and classes cancelled through tomorrow.
President Bush has weighed in, saying he was shocked and saddened, while the university's president, Charles Steger, has released a statement, calling it a "tragedy of monumental proportions." It's certainly monumental; the next two most deadly campus shootings in the U.S. were the 1966 shooting at the University of Texas, in which 17 were killed, and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, where 14 were killed; both numbers include the gunmen themselves.
While most of the dead were shot in classrooms, which at most public institutions have always been open to the public during class time, it brings a question for me: will this change the way campuses deal with security in dormitories? Certainly, key cards and other security measures have been in use for the past decade or so at most large college and university dorms, but in my experience you can always get a friendly student to hold the door for you -- and, as so many colleges are housed in grand old buildings, they're often difficult to secure fully. Will a tragedy like this put many of our university security offices at a much-heightened level of awareness? Will classrooms soon be put in lockdown? Columbine prompted many high schools to install metal detectors and do random sweeps -- are college classrooms and dormitories the nation wide to follow suit?
President Bush has weighed in, saying he was shocked and saddened, while the university's president, Charles Steger, has released a statement, calling it a "tragedy of monumental proportions." It's certainly monumental; the next two most deadly campus shootings in the U.S. were the 1966 shooting at the University of Texas, in which 17 were killed, and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, where 14 were killed; both numbers include the gunmen themselves.
While most of the dead were shot in classrooms, which at most public institutions have always been open to the public during class time, it brings a question for me: will this change the way campuses deal with security in dormitories? Certainly, key cards and other security measures have been in use for the past decade or so at most large college and university dorms, but in my experience you can always get a friendly student to hold the door for you -- and, as so many colleges are housed in grand old buildings, they're often difficult to secure fully. Will a tragedy like this put many of our university security offices at a much-heightened level of awareness? Will classrooms soon be put in lockdown? Columbine prompted many high schools to install metal detectors and do random sweeps -- are college classrooms and dormitories the nation wide to follow suit?
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