While coming to terms with multiple incidences of savage violence on our campus, one wonders what prescription might remedy the affliction under which our community is currently suffering.
The media are constantly bombarded with editorials on all sides of the issue, but each time the university response is the same.
On Feb. 3, President Charles Steger sent out a mass e-mail to the Virginia Tech community chiding those who dare to ask provocative questions about culture and engage in civil discourse. The moving prose with which he wrote harkened back to the days after the worst mass murder in the history of higher education. Long after those wonderful words, wane, pitiful platitudes persist.
I cannot begin to imagine the difficulties Steger has been faced with as of late, but I do have expectations regarding his responsibilities to my community.
A good leader does not inject political jabs during opportune moments. A good leader does not seek to quash inquiry. Most certainly, a good leader does not confuse reasoned dissent with moral disease.
Perhaps the only way to truly move on from this current anxiety is for the administration to reflect its community's anguish instead of offering to show it the error of its thoughts and ways.
Brian M. Erskine,
graduate student,
political science
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Well said good sir. Some of my colleagues don't understand that we must remain objective in our duties. Pushing and even advocating political agendas at the Capitol are commonplace here. Steger's letter upset me, but I'm sure to some parents, this was highly welcome. What a shame.
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Collegiate Times, you are under arrest for yet another atrocious LTE title. This was clearly given to make the author sound aloof and discredit his point, to which you receive a citation of: less readers. Well, status quo!
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doesn't the fact that Pres. Steger needed to address it formally mean there's an issue of civility within the discourse. (for example) talking about lynching someone and then saying its civil discourse isn't civil. blaming an entire category of race america grouped together--mind you asians are not only chinese or korean, but also vietnamese, Filipino, indian, thai, laos, japanese, and some parts of russia. so, i wouldn't blame Pres. Steger entirely, but the people that he needs to address so the rest of us hokies don't look like a bunch of racist individuals. more than him sending the letter, the fact that he felt obligated to bothers me.
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The whole line about firearms killing people was totally uncalled for.
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Gee, will the gun rights people start calling for knife rights too? I have the right to carry a gun so can I also have the right to carry a knife too?
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Try reading school policy - knives are allowed, when under 4". (Policy 5616) And you must be living under a rock if you think that guns are comparable to knives when it comes to self-defense.
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Couldn't agree with you more, Brian. The letter just sounded so forced, unnatural and opportunistic. Matter-of-fact was the tone. You can cite statistics all you want to us, but that doesn't change the fact that you have allowed two unstable Asian males (though one not technically foreign) on our campus. Sure, maybe they don't visit the VTPD as much as whites, but there are more whites on campus... and the ones who go are likely toking up more than they are lashing out. I definitely don't want to stereotype because I had lots of Asian friends (mostly international students) at my undergrad who I love dearly, but you can't ignore trends and brush them off under the cover of 4/16, which people are uncomfortable challenging in many ways. Steger's e-mail struck me as a bad PR move, and I think there could have been a less-chiding, more-professional way to go about winning support for the Asian community. Show, don't tell.
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@Mark - in case you didn't read between the lines - my comment was a sarcastic jab (or knife) towards the gun rights people.
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JD, as far as I know, being Asian is not an affliction that causes violence. Acknowledging a common thread in ethnicity does little to understand the root cause of these incidents, unless you use it as a stepping stone to questioning what might cause certain ethnicities to behave differently (is it different cultural norms, a psychological disorder that only genetically affects certain races, etc.). If you look at the history of campus incidents in the US, the racial correlation fails. Why not focus on understanding the societal and psychological factors at play, rather than just pointing to ethnicity? As you say, there are plenty of well-adjusted Asians, like your friends. Similarly, there are plenty of people of any race with a few screws loose.
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Correction in CAPS - @Mark - in case you didn't read between the lines - my comment was a sarcastic STAB at the gun rights people.
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Continued... Similarly, initiatives to stymie problems such as "poverty among blacks" are misguided because they use race as their foundation. People are not pre-destined to be poor merely because they are black. Poverty has much more to do with the situation into which you are born than the color of your skin. A more worthwhile activity would be to determine how to get people born into poverty the opportunities they need to excel, regardless of their race.
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To single out Asians on the V-Tech campus because of the last two tragadies smacks of racism and bigotry. Why not ban all whites from campus since the majority of mass shootings around the country were committed by white gunmen.
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