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