I would like to respond to the article "Class will be in session on April 16, 2009" (CT, Jan. 26). First, I would like to address the comments made by university spokesman Mark Owczarski. His argument for not canceling classes is that the academic calendar is set five years in advance, so making changes is difficult.
As this article points out, in spring 2008 those changes were made, and I don't believe it took a major effort to do so. The fact of the matter is that the spring 2008 schedule was made even earlier than the spring 2009 schedule, and if the university really wanted to set aside a day of remembrance, it could be done.
It is clear the university administration wants to do whatever they can to try to pretend the events of April 16 never happened. At the commencement exercises in spring 2007, I stood to cheer and applaud President Steger for how much he appeared to be doing to help the Hokie community through this tragedy.
As more details have emerged, and I have read the independent panel report (which new details have shown was even biased in favor of the university) and heard from several families of the victims since the tragedy, I am ashamed of Virginia Tech's response. The families and friends of the victims had to fight the university to get a small ribbon to reappear on the university homepage. As much information as could legally be hidden has remained hidden. Communication channels have only marginally improved -- it still takes over 45 minutes to an hour to warn anyone in the event of an incident, and even then a good set of instructions and information are not present.
I dare anyone reading this letter to closely examine the Tech panel report and not conclude that Cho was dangerous for years and yet was allowed to remain on our campus each semester. Yet not so much as a simple apology for any failure of judgment has ever been issued from the university.
As a university community, we have been through a lot in the last two years, not the least of which was a murder one week ago in the Graduate Life Center. The university administration has gone through a phase of wishing to remember April 16 at every opportunity to a time when forgetting might be the easiest approach. If you were at Tech during the 2007-2008 school year, you will recall a year filled with dedications, ceremonies, a commemorative baseball game, a concert, banners and ribbons everywhere you looked. Our athletics program, which once sewed orange ribbon patches on every team uniform and adorned playing surfaces with appropriate tributes, has put away every memento. For a while, it was impossible to turn on a Tech sports game on television without a reminder from the media of the violence that struck our campus on April 16, 2007.
Our university has packed up box after box of cards, banners and letters of condolence. Practically all that physically remains are doors without handles and 32 stones, dimly lit at night because proper lighting was never installed for them, next to the visitor parking spaces where President Steger parks his Mercedes every day. Even the pamphlet boxes at the memorial are empty so visitors can't get information on the memorial.
How can we go from a university so desperate to remember to a university so in need of forgetting? It's not a matter of remembering the violence. It's not a matter of coming together for a massive pity party. It's not a matter of protesting a failed administration. It's a matter of celebrating life. We take for granted our safety. We students, most of whom are in our late teens and early twenties, think we have a long time on this earth.
April 16 should be a day to remember that a long life is not promised. It is a day to realize that we are promised today, and if thousands of other todays happen to follow it, then excellent, but if not, we know we need to live today in the best way we possibly can. Look no further than the events of last Wednesday night to see why we need this day of celebration of life.
Ricky Castles
Ph.D. Candidate
Electrical and Computer Engineering
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I'd have to ask, why does having class in session prohibit you from remembering that a long life is not promised? How does it stand in the way of your own private commemoration of the events?
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kyle minor is clearly the most grotesquely insensitive person to have ever existed
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So we're to believe, as the author of this letter puts it, that Tech's administration "wants to do whatever they can to try to pretend the events of April 16 never happened." - Because classes aren't going to be cancelled??? Wow, just, wow... Go home and rethink your life.
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I stand fully by Ricky Castles. I cannot believe you would all be so insensitive to the idea of canceling classes again so that we can remember those 32 and the injured, most of whom are still here on campus with us daily. Can you really say that it won't help? I can see both sides of an argument for administration or against their actions, but guess what? Regardless, 32 lives were lost, including an extremely close friend of mine and a few of my classmates. I will never, ever forget, and the world will never look on Virginia Tech the same again. However, I do not plan to attend classes that day, if in session, and I have explained that to my professors. I suffer from PTSD because of the events those days and only hope that some day the anxiety, fear, and sadness can subside for me to lead a somewhat normal life. I am thankful tos till have my life, and want to live it my best in honor of those 32, but to do so, I believe that April 16 should always be a day of remembrance, reflection, and celebration. Thank you Ricky, as always, for being so keen to speak your mind in times when others seem to forget what's important.
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I was hit hard by 9/11.. I want classes canceled. I celebrate many religious holidays.. I want classes canceled. I go to athletic events.. I want classes canceled. Where does it stop? Kyle Minor said it well - why do classes stop you from remembering? I remember every day, right by Burruss Hall. And unless you have classes from 8am-10pm, you have no excuse not to make it out to some memorial activities on the anniversary. But the last thing I'm going to do is stop my life because evil struck. I lost a dear friend, too, but don't want the world to stop and make a holiday out of the day.
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It is about a symbolic day of remembrance and celebration of lives lost. It shows that the university cares about remembering and is sensitive to student's needs, which up to now has not been very evident- starting with the day of the tragedy. It is not about remembering the negative, it's about honoring those who aren't sitting beside us in class anymore. Many people operate in different ways and although some people may be fine with going to classes, others will have a hard time with it. Anniversaries are medically known to trigger episodes from PTSD and traumatic events, and I don't think anyone should be expected to live life normally on a day that will never be normal to anyone who was affected by this again. I don't believe anyone is asking other schools to have this day of pause, it is just for our university. We all think about April 16th daily, but having a day on campus committed to remembering is something I would have hoped the administration would want to support.
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And I, as a former student who was on campus on April 16, am glad that the administration has moved forward and is not simply canceling days of class. Some students suffer greatly from the memories of April 16, and some don't. The issue isn't one so much of encouraging normalcy as it is recognizing that there are countless numbers of days each year which by the same standards ought to be days off from everything. September 11, December 7, and June 6 all come to mind as pivotal days in American history which dealt explicitly with sacrifice and death on a massive scale - and yet we don't commemorate these events with a day off each year. Nor should we - though the events and the dead are a living part of our history, the world didn't stop and so we just pick up and move on the best we can. Nobody, including the administration, is encouraging anyone to 'forget' that April 16 happened - but perhaps it'd be wise to recognize the denial of a holiday as a means of emphasizing that we each ought to commemorate April 16 EVERY day we are alive.
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I would prefer to celebrate the BIRTHDAYS of those lost than the day they died. It seems so morbid to keep making a point of the day they died.. what about the day they were born?
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April 16 is my birthday...April 15 tax day, April 19 Oklahoma bombing (plus Waco). Of course, every day of the year has a memorial...somewhere.
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