Collegiate Times

Former English department head and alumni distinguished professor Lucinda Roy captured her emotional response to the 4/16 shootings, interactions with gunman Seung-Hui Cho and deals with ideas about freedom of speech in her book, "No Right to Remain Silent" published March 31.

Roy said writing and publishing the book has been a difficult journey - but that some journeys are worth the risk.

CT: What was the process of completing this book, "No Right to Remain Silent" like?

Lucinda Roy: It was the hardest book I've ever written. And I've written some tough ones. My last novel, my second novel, was set in war-torn Sierra Leone. So I've written some things that are particularly painful. This was particularly painful because it was such a personal story for me. And also because I didn't want to wound people further. I didn't want to wound the parents of those who were killed or other family members of those who were killed or injured. It's such a sensitive subject and I understand why people don't want to revisit it, because it's too painful to revisit. Once I decided that if we didn't talk about it we were at greater risk for it happening again then I didn't feel I had a choice.

CT: You mentioned you didn't want to wound family members of victims of 4/16. How did you do that while still being honest?

LR: Well, for example, only the opening paragraph of the prologue deals with the shootings directly and once people have got through that, (and they can always skip the prologue if they want) then they don't have to read about that again. And I thought that that would be a better way to approach things. I don't like books that sensationalize this kind of thing because I think it can be very dangerous and it can inspire other young people to do the same kind of thing. So it was very important to me that Seung-Hui Cho not appear as someone who was larger than life, but rather he appear as I really thought that he was, a very troubled, very disturbed person.

CT: How did you find Seung-Hui Cho? What was he like? Could you describe him for me?

LR:  He seemed to be excessively shy at first. He would wear dark sunglasses indoors and have a cap pulled over his head, and he would take 10 to 20 seconds to respond to a question. That's a very, very long time. And when he did respond, he would respond in a whisper. So that changed a little bit as we worked together. And he would speak in longer sentences and his voice would be loud enough for me to hear it often very well. But in the beginning, that was the way that it was. He seemed to be very depressed to me. But I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist and so there's only so much that you know as a teacher of creative writing. But it seemed to me that he was. I've worked with a lot of people who've been depressed in the past and his symptoms seemed much like theirs.  

CT: You mentioned Seung-Hui Cho changed. How so?

LR: He became much more relaxed I think with me than he was in the beginning. And I think because we worked together, and even though we didn't begin even working together 'til mid-way through that fall semester. I had had him in a previous class in the spring of 2004, in a large poetry lecture class with about 250 other students. So he knew me from that class even though I didn't know him all that well from that class because it was so big. But I did remember him from there. It seemed as though he became more forthcoming and so it wasn't a surprise to me to learn that he had gone to the counseling center to try to get help, as I'd asked him to do. And that he had asked for the particular counselor I'd recommended. So I didn't find that out until after the shootings, because at that time at Virginia Tech, you weren't really permitted to know what went on with students when it was to do with mental health or health concerns in general. But I'm glad that seems to be changing now.

CT: How can students maintain their privacy while getting help when they need it?

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