Virginia Tech Provost Mark McNamee sat down with the Collegiate Times to discuss how he has been dealing with the shootings on campus two years ago.
McNamee discussed the ways that students are remembering the lives lost on that fatal day, but are also moving on with their own lives, continuing to hold a special place for those students and faculty members who were killed and injured.
Collegiate Times: How do you believe that students on campus will handle remembering April 16 this year since it is the two-year anniversary?
Mark McNamee: What I have noticed talking to students is that the students who were here on April 16 that day will bring back many memories and many feelings that they may not even know yet. It is still very personal, and it comes to the surface more that day then any other day. The students who are new to the campus, they know a lot about April 16, and I think that they will be very interested in being part of something that happened on the campus. My guess is that the way that they experience the feeling will be quite different; there will be some real contrasts, whether it is very personal or whether it is a more generalized experience.
CT: Do you believe that this year's anniversary, since it is the two-year anniversary, will in some way be less emotional for students?
MM: I think it is going to very emotional because what I have found is that when you talk to students about anything that happens, it does not take very long for April 16 to come up, in terms of bringing back a memory or people thinking about it. I have a feeling that it will be emotional and that emotion will come at different times. People may be doing fine and listening to the ceremonies, participating in the remembrance run, or just feeling really good about something, and then at some point it will really hit them. My guess is that the emotion will be as strong for some that day as it was for them on April 16 itself.
CT: In your experience over the past two years, how have you seen students beginning to move on, but at the same time, hold a place in their heart for the lives lost on April 16?
MM: We have had a lot of conversations with students and faculty and staff about how this is affecting them. I think one of the things I have seen is, on a day-to-day basis as people are studying and so on, humans, by their very nature, are able to process things along parallel tracks, so for the most part, people can be very functional and very focused, so there is a sense of moving on; and essentially, you almost have to do that to develop as a student and a human being to make a contribution to the world so things can feel very normal to you. I think that when you have an experience like this and a remembrance event like this, I think it will always be a part of who you are, and when you do things, you will be influenced by what happened and those memories and those remembrances. I think that is perhaps a healthy part of the healing process, and the reason human beings recover from tragedies is that they are able to, in some ways, keep these parallel ways of operating.
CT: Have you had students come talk to you who are still deeply troubled by the events of April 16? What do you say to them?
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