Collegiate Times

Ah yes, another guy who doesn't live here and has most likely never visited fails to grasp that sometimes people use words that aren't so very much what you may think they mean (like "lockdown"). His whole premise is that the panel says "they couldn't lockdown" and he rebuts with "you sure act like you did, and you could have done better". Columbine was 8 years old when this happened, and although you might expect people to learn from the past, you cannot expect everyone to constantly be a Nervous Nancy. One of the nicest things about the open environment of VT is that same open environment fosters a sense of freedom and opportunity to learn. Can you imagine CCTV cameras everywhere here? Would you feel safe, or violated?

This guy may be genuine in publishing his recommendations, but I wonder how much he is motivated by future consulting opportunities and the almighty dollar. Like other Monday morning quarterbacks, he suggests he has the answers that were lacking on that day in April. However, he wasn't there making the decisions. This guy's conclusions also fail to compare how other communities and open societies react to murders such as those discovered in AJ that day. They investigate, they create a crime-scene perimeter, and they attempt to quickly identify and pursue suspects - all within minutes to hours of the discovery of the crime. What they don't do is "lock-down" an entire community just in case the perpetrator later goes on a mass-murder shooting spree like Cho did.

what does 'protection professional' mean? crossing guard? bodyguard for 'aerosmith'? what qualifies this guy to snipe besides the fact that he is working for people seeking to sue the university?

and another thing: Mr. Bove "welcomes a response to his report from any government agency or... school wanting to enhance the security on their campus." he's gonna do that for free, right? he's not using 4/16 as a MARKETING TOOL FOR HIS BUSINESS, right?

A) If they took the first shooting more seriously, police would have been all over campus, causing a faster reaction time to a second shooting. B) If Cho was locked up in the dorms, it would have taken a lot longer to kill 2 people at a time in dorm rooms than in a classroom with a bunch of people in the same room at once.

i'm not going to open up the entire thing all over again, because the teams are picked and talking past each other: no one who believes that the u. should have "taken it seriously" (and what exactly indicates they didn't?) aren't going to listen to people who think that it was handled as well as it could have given the facts on hand as it was happening, and vis-versa. but you're wrong.

If Cho had just walked back to his dorm room after killing Emily Hilscher and Ryan Clark in West AJ Hall, the crime would likely never have been solved. There wasn't any indication pointing to Cho's involvement at the crime scene. Nor was there any indication that this was part of a larger "plot" against the campus. The police made the assumption, based on the scant information available at the time, that this was a domestic incident involving Hilscher's boyfriend. Nonetheless, Debster, Chief Flinchum called in the Blacksburg and VT SWAT teams to be on standby in the event action had to be taken in this case. They responded within three minutes of the first 911 call from Norris Hall to the doors and broke through in another four. It is truly tragic that they couldn't be in there even more quickly. However, no one but Cho was aware of the game plan he had in store for that day. The Tech policy group really couldn't say much to the campus about the crime. What could they say beyond the shootings occurring? Would that information have averted the Norris Hall calamity? I don't believe so. The Morva situation in August of last year showed just how difficult it is to "lock down" a campus. This was a group that was not acquainted with dealing with potentially dangerous/homicidal events. The police chief, will from now on, be part of the Policy Group. However, their actions and decisions were based on the limited information they had -- it was NOT about money.

Before you falsley judge Mr Bove you may want to go to his web site and view his qualifications. He is more than qualified to render his opinion on the events of that day and is very respected in the community of law enforcement and security. I THINK IF YOU WOULD TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE REPORT THE PANEL CAME UP WITH YOUR OPINION MAY CHANGE. The University had problems with Mr Cho the previous two years. He was diagnosed homicidal and suicidal in the 7th grade. There were many chances for this student to get the help that he needed. He was written up by RA's professors and students complained about this young man. The fact is the faculty of this school failed Mr Cho. He made his plans more than evident to those around him and every one chose to turn a blind eye to it. He even discusses this fact in his manifesto when he himself said you had many chances to stop me but chose to ignore me. This crime would have been very difficult the day of to stop, not impossible just difficult but the fact Mr cho cried out for help many times and many people ignored his plea. The mental health facility that housed him for 14 hours after he threatned to take his on life. The doctor at that facility that diagnosed him in 15 minutes and said he was not a danger to himself or others. The judge that saw him after that and incorrectly filled out paper work which would have put Mr Cho's name in a National computer file that would have flagged his name as ineligible to purchase a gun for mental reasons. Cook Counseling center on the VT campus for not following up with Mr Cho after only one visit. And by the way they conveniently lost his file right after this incident. I wonder what scathing evidence was in the file that suddenly turned up missing. And his professors who refused to teach him with other students because he scared them so badly. Was that not a sign to faculty that Mr Cho needed help. I would ask your readers to dig a little deeper before they judge so quickley.

davi: I did read the entire report, both the one the panel came up with and the one he wrote. My opinion of Mr. Bove as someone who has never been here stands firmly. Cho had problems, but he was also rather lucky because of the series of errors that happened allowed him to do what he did -- but when you look at what the university staff did when presented with the evidence before them, I stand by them. Giovanni removed him from class. Roy told him to seek counciling, as well as several of his other professors. He was going to do what he was going to do, and there wasn't much going to stop him. People who don't live here and know what it was like before all this mess don't have much right to judge, in my opinion. You want to really blame someone for all that? Blame the jerk who let Cho piggyback into AJ that morning, 45 minutes before he would have been able to enter. Even then, those 45 minutes would have done little -- instead of Clark & Hilcher it would have been someone else. And even still, when was the last time you slammed the door in someone's face to make sure they swiped for entry? Yeah. There's what looks good on paper, and there's the way things really are.