Collegiate Times

I don't know about this. I think the state could win the lawsuit against the parents, the burden of proof required of them to prove official state negligence is very high. However, among these opportunities to ask questions -- why are Cho's parents always being left out of the equation? They raised their son for 18 years -- they should be held to answer some questions (via translator if necessary) about what happened to lead him to what he ultimately did.

I recommend reading the article about this on CNN, its more detailed and complete... too big of an issue to skim over on this site

Personally, I think this settlement offer is just insulting. I know negotiations are complicated and this is a very preliminary offer, and maybe the university does not have the resources to offer more right now, but this number makes VT look bad. There is definitely more to this story than is being reported (in all media outlets, not just the CT), but $100k is dramatically less than would and could be recovered at trial. Fred -- if this case makes it to the discovery stage (in pretrial litigation), there is no doubt that the shooter's parents will be questioned. However, because he was a legal adult, they cannot be held responsible for his actions and their testimony/ statements would not hold much persuasive authority. Also, I believe (and very well could be wrong) the lawsuits address negligence limited to the actions of the university on April 16 specifically (because of the privacy laws preventing them from not acting with regard to the warning signs the shooter exhibited) so the shooter's background may not play as large of a part as we all might expect.

The proposal the state of Virginia has made is its first offer in the murders at Virginia Tech. It is appallingly lacking. In exchange for a small sum of money, $100,000, parents of murdered students would agree not to sue. It is insulting.

Looking back,maybe they should take it. They may find a way to give nothing at all. In 1994,I was shot walking out of a military hospital at Fairchild,AFB.,Wa. 27 wounded and four dead. $17,000,000 was to be disbursed among the victims. All but one, me. You want to talk about insulting? Yeah, let's talk. That's what I got for a career in the Air Force.

To all of you who think this offer is insulting... how much do you think a person's life is worth? Would $1M bring a kid back? Would $10M make it hurt less? Maybe you could get over your kid's death while sitting on the deck of your brand new yacht, courtesy of VT, while sailing from island to island in the Caribbean during your early retirement. Maybe if you name your new yacht after your deceased child it won't sound so ridiculous right? Please also keep in mind that this is a public institution. How insulted will you be when your tuition doubles so the school can finance a few dozen brand new yachts? Life ain't fair. Just because a bad thing happened doesn't mean everyone's entitled to large sums of money. If that's what you want, take out a life insurance policy, not a lawsuit.

Once again, it appears that the lawyers who are supposedly representing the families are creating far and away the most grief. As noted below, the family of Cho was aware and advised of his problems, but notice that the lawyers don't even mention holding them accountable. Therein lies the proof of who is capitalizing on the extraoadinary sorrow of the families. These families need better representation than they are currently getting.

The families have already received other sums of money. If you read roanoke.com, it says that $100,000 is the maximum they can even sue for in court. It's ridiculous that the families want to sue. I am sorry for their loss but I agree with Mark...we shouldn't be funding a new yacht for the family. No amount of money will bring their child back. I am an alumnus and I was in class when this happened. Even if the warnings were sent earlier some people would have still gone. For example, when William Morva was on the loose what did my friends and I do? We went to class like any other day because we felt safe.

Recently I think at Purdue University a student was found in an electrical closet, dead, after at least a month of being missing - he died from electrocution. There are limits to how much you can recover by suing a public university and I think the amount is $250k. Addressing the issue of Cho being an adult and therefore no one can be held legally accountable for his actions - that's not definitive. To the families: just take the money and try to get on.

Let's not forget folks, that the original settlement arranged by Mr. Kenneth Feinberg for disbursement of the Hokie Spirit Fund gave $200,000 TAX FREE to the murdered individual's families. That amount is TEN TIMES the amount that the family of a homicide victim murdered elsewhere in the commonwealth would receive from the state crime victim's compensation fund. My point about giving the parents the opportunity to confront the Cho parents is to allow the parents of the deceased and wounded to turn their focus away from the state officials and school officials with their rage and ask the Chos', "why did you allow your freak son who was a loner to attend a school so far away?"

For now, I will give anyone seeking money the benefit of the doubt by assuming that they are doing so because of the principle of holding the school accountable, rather than to finance a fancy boat, so I won't address the "are they being selfish" aspect. Rather, I want to address the nature of the $100,000 offers. To me, this amount says two things: (1) if VT legal counsel thought they had no case, there would be a more lucrative buyout offer, which leads me to (2) that VT would rather spend some money on the families of the victims than the legal fees necessary to defend itself in what would surely be a bitter, emotional trial.

I take issue with the demands of the victims' families in the first place. While I understand the intense pain and grief they must feel at having lost their children in such a heinous and cruel act of evil, it is important to remember that "holding VT accountable" really only takes funding from the students who are still going here! It isn't like the school is a huge 'business' per se, which has as its primary goal the turning of a profit - the school uses the money it receives, both in terms of private funding from donors and public funding from taxpayers, to recruit and retain faculty of the highest level of skill and competence to provide an outstanding education for the citizens of the Commonwealth and elsewhere. Consequently, money payed directly to victims' families from the VT coffers is money that is necessarily withheld from the students who invest their time and energy into their own educations. Tragic as last April's events were, it doesn't justify robbing from some people to assuage the grief of others.

Secondly, confronting Cho's parents is inappropriate and clamoring for them to be held responsible is patently offensive to the notion of individual rights and freedoms. Think about it this way - if you are caught speeding, should your driving instructor be held responsible? Perhaps your parents? WOuld it be appropriate to fine EVERYONE who ever taught you to drive each time you do something inappropriate? I'd say no - people can teach you, but you have to make your own decisions. Was Cho unstable? Probably - although many of the world's greatest artists can be subjectively assessed as deranged (take a look at the Expressionist movement - it makes Cho's writings look tame). That isn't to say that Cho was a great artist - but it is important to recognize that the fact that people have strange ideas doesn't qualify them necessarily as dangerous to themselves or others. In short, it was not Cho's parents' responsibility to ensure that their son received the help that he (evidently) needed - they trained him as best they could, and the fact that something went wrong in his brain doesn't necessarily mean that they failed.

The university should be sued for having passed an illegal resolution banning possession of guns on campus by faculty, staff, and students. As far as victim funds go, I am not sure if our governments should be making any large payouts. It is one thing to distribute private donations that are made to a victim fund, but it is quite another when our governments pay large sums to families of victims. Don't get me wrong, if Tech or any other gov institution finds themselves in a similar situation and it is determined that the institution's negligence was a factor, then the families should definitely sue. However, I am not comfortable when you have the feds paying vast sums of money in the case with 9/11 or any other case. Where does it stop. What if our terrorist situation changes and we start seeing suicide bombers on our soil like they have in Israel? Is the gov going to make multi-million dollar payments to every victim of terrrorism in the future even if, god forbid, we begin to see 20, 30, 50, or 100 victims a day?

Charles Steger and many members of the administration have been put under intense grilling for their actions on April 16th. Meanwhile, the Chos have been given a pass and allowed to slip into seclusion. I don't think they should be subject to a firing line -- they had no more knowledge that April 16th was going to happen than anyone else did, but I do think they bear some responsibility for consenting to allow their obviously "different" and "disaffected" son to attend a school so far away. Tech is probably offering the money up to avoid an ugly, protracted legal battle in civil court over this. The state's position is strong under the clause of sovereign immunity. They should fight, in my opinion -- but they won't for sake of public image. Get out your wallets Virginia taxpayers....

I question the motive of the family member who leaked this to the press. Are they looking to see what kind of response they get, so they can decide whether to accept the offer or not?

I agree with many of the people on this board that have indicated that these families should be given zero dollars. These people should be ashamed of themselves from trying to profit from their child's death. A few mentions of other concerns on this board are a little disturbing. To suggest that VT should be held accountable 'on principle' by the victim's families is patently absurd. Do you think that VT is coming out of this situation smelling like roses? They, no, WE are being held accountable every single day. On the other hand, there are, in fact, victims of 4/16 that have families and dependents they need to take care of, so I can understand those families wanting more money, but not more money from the school. Harold Maio - let's not forget that they have already been paid off with six figures apiece. Finally, Kyle Minor has the right point. These families that want this money are total hypocrites - they're taking money from college students that need to be funded in order to pad their wallets in the most disgusting exploitation of a child's passing that I have ever heard of.

To Perhaps: I am not suggesting that I personally believe that the school should be held accountable; I am merely stating that these families may have other possible motivations besides funding a life of luxury at the expense of VT. I do agree with Kyle that it is counterproductive to take it out of the school's hide, but what I mean by "principle" is that if someone truly believes that VT was largely responsible for the deaths resulting from this tragedy, what other recourse do they have in order to effect change than to file suit against the university?

What on God's green earth do you mean by "what other recourse"? Hundreds of changes, many of which were in the planning stages before the tragedy, are happening regardless of the the huge sums of money being paid to the lawyers and families of the victims. The State legislators have essentially left alone almost all laws relative to guns. Once again, the lawyers don't want to talk about the ones with the closest influence on the event. They prefer to fan flames, instill more grief on the families, and walk away with 33% of the payout. Again, I feel very sorry for the the victim's families and the miserable representation they are getting from their existing counsel.

Jason- Have you read any other articles about this settlement? According to CNN, the settlement includes plans for the families all to meet with senior VT personnel regarding both changes made to the campus and policies as well as the memorial activities within 6 months. They'd also have three opportunities to meet with Gov Kaine over the next 2 years to discuss legislative and administrative changes in response to the shootings. Those are key facts that Ms Miller neglected to mention in her brief article. In my opinion that's as much recourse as the families could hope to achieve, but the government is offering cash settlements to further sweeten the deal. Given the complete settlement offer, I'd seriously question the motives of any family seeking more money. Personally, I'd rather see the government create scholarship funds or charitable donations with that money in the names of the victims, rather than paying it out in cash 'blood money'. Hopefully the families will decide to do that themselves.

I had read that an attorney representing some of the families were looking for something along the lines of the 9/11 settlement (around $2 million). I didn't agree with that bailout and it would be crazy for Virginia to set that as a precedent. In my mind they would have to prove that a "lockdown" (for how long? a day...a week ...until they found Cho?) would have definitively prevented an attack that day. Sure, "lock him down" with a dorm full of trapped students and we MIGHT have had a bigger nightmare. Undoubtedly, there would be lawsuits for making that wrong decision too....

I am sure I will be a minority with this opinion but as a VT student, I feel that we have suffered enough. I truly understand the loss that the parents must be feeling. Most of us lost someone we loved and cared about that day, but we have to start healing. Having the parents raise issues of money is doing nothing but keeping an already open wound from healing. They were not there that day and though they lost a relative they have to understand that now, they are part of the problem. Those lost were here because they loved Virginia Tech and I doubt that anyone of them would want to see the name of our wonderful school drug through the mud. So if there are any parents reading this, please stop all of the public bickering and LET US HEAL!

Chris, trust me, you are not a minority. Personally, I think that it is terrible the families are considering suing the University in the first place. All that is going to do is take away from other students. I told my parents that if I had been killed and they even considered filing a lawsuit that I would be deeply ashamed of them. Yes, I have felt loss from that day, and I know that I could never understand what it would be like to lose a child, but suing is only going to hurt the state and the University and would be a truly selfish act. I was on campus that day, and I heard about the first shooting, but I still went to my 9:05 class. Why? Because I never once imagined what was about to take place. The first murders were, I thought, an isolated incident, so I had nothing to fear. I also agree with Alex. We never will know what will happen if anything would have been done differently. Potentially, a lock down could have made things much worse. We have already faced a great burden with that day, and suing will be like adding salt to the wounds. Parents and family of the victims, a student at Virginia Tech pleads you to not damage us anymore. I cannot fathom how you feel, but please, think how your children would feel if they saw what you were doing now.

Lee, making incredulous statements like, "what on God's green earth..." doesn't make your point true. If it is so obvious what else they could do, why not simply provide examples? Take a lesson from Mark C. He tells examples of things the university has done to accommodate the comments of the victims' families, in addition to offering monetary compensation. My point is that if the victims' families think something negligent was done, they can't send Steger or the VTPD chief to jail for it; they can either (a) complain to the university or the legislature, or (b) sue the school for punitive damages.

My point is simply that if someone lost a loved one because of what they believe was negligence on the part of the university, then a desire for accountability is warranted, and perhaps the university deserves punishment (even though its finances, and ultimately its students would suffer, we shouldn't just sweep negligence under the rug, if it truly did exist).

Jason T, I'd agree with you on the lawsuit issue - if VT were a private institution. The fact of the matter is, though, that VT is a public, land-grant university. Consequently, its Board of Visitors is appointed by the State Legislature, and I believe that the President is appointed by the BOV. So rather than sue the school, which would only take money away from those students already here paying tuition, it seems like what we ought to encourage is a much more democratic maneuver - make the appointment of the BOV a much more apparent political issue, and hold the elected officials responsible. That method doesn't cut into the health and well-being of anyone unrelated to the incident (culpability-wise, at least) and provides a much more transparent means of solving the problem.

Jason T - I do see your point. In a litigation-happy society, the lawsuit is the most overused legal tool we have, and people are likely to fall back on it as soon as they meet a lawyer (and the lawyer knows who they are). I wonder if I can file a lawsuit against the families for 'Extended Grief and Emotional Stress' related to this dragged-out greed-infested money-grubbing scenario. I'd bet it could be a class-action suit, too. I've been really stressed about it.

I just hope that in exercising this opportunity to speak at great length with the legislative and executive branches of our government some of these parents will be pushing VT to undo its "gun ban." That said, the fact that these parents experienced the death of their child does not give their arguements for or against any policy more weight than anyone else's. This whole issue is getting way out of hand.

Truth, I don't think that will EVER happen at VT, or at any other college campus in this country.