Collegiate Times

On April 15, 2007, Richard Benson, Virginia Tech's Dean of Engineering, left for a conference in Puerto Rico.

Just around midnight the next day, he was standing on the Drillfield, after learning that 31 students and faculty members had been killed in one of his college's most important buildings.  

"We had a coffee break (during the conference) and I checked my e-mail, and that's when I saw that there was a shooter," Benson said. "I had no idea that the shooting was in Norris Hall."

After calling his secretary and chief-of-staff to no answer, Benson returned to his hotel room and saw that the shooting occurred in Norris.

"In some ways, I was very fortunate that I was spared the direct assault," Benson said. "On the other hand, I care very deeply for the people who work with me."

On June 18, 2007, Norris Hall reopened its doors. By that time, the rooms in which the shootings had occured had already been repainted and received new lights and tile.

There are additional plans for the building, in which the university plans to spend around $1 million to completely convert Norris' second-floor wing into a seemingly new space.

The 70,000-square-foot, three-story building had housed the engineering science and mechanics department and the civil and environmental engineering department.

Before April 16, Norris Hall was just another limestone-walled building amidst several dozen other such structures. Now it's known for the second-floor wing where Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 30 faculty members and students before killing himself.

 A 12-member task force consisting of faculty, staff and students was formed in August to determine the future of the building. Provost Mark McNamee said that seven proposals for the space were submitted by a range of different groups.

"Most of them were coalitions of people -- they were groups of students, faculty, and staff that sort of came together as sort of a grassroots group that had an idea or an interest in something," McNamee said.

On Dec. 20, Tech announced that the second floor corridor of Norris would be used as the site of a Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, headed by the Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Sue Ott Rowlands.

"The center will focus on research related to how we can enhance human security both locally and also around the world," Rowlands said.  

She added that the project will investigate the relationship between sustainability and peace.

"When people don't have the basics of life, it's much more likely that war or one-on-one violence will occur," Rowlands said. "Hopefully, it will be a hub where people working on peace will come together."

She explained that many undergraduate fellowships, graduate assistantships and possibly visiting scholars will be involved in the research of the center. Those implementing the center also have plans to develop a minor and a graduate certificate in peace studies.  

About 1,000 square feet, or roughly 25 percent, of Norris' second-floor wing will be transformed into this center, Rowlands said. The renovation will probably last all of next year, so the CPSVP is located in a suite of offices in Wallace until then.

As for the sensitivity of the location, Rowlands believes the center is the ideal project.

"We have people with the center who strongly believe that it's really important that the center be right on that spot," Rowlands said. "The activities that will be going on in that space will be very empowering and very positive."

Tech also announced last December that a Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships would be constructed on the first floor of Burruss Hall. An ESM laboratory now occupies this space, but it will be moved to Norris.

John Dooley, vice president for outreach and international affairs, will be heading up the administrative aspect of this project. Its director has yet to be named.

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