The families of Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde, two of the victims of the April 16, 2007, shooting have each filed a $10 million lawsuit against the administrator of Seung-Hui Cho's estate, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cook Counseling Center and top university officials, including President Charles Steger and Provost Mark McNamee.
For the families of the victims filing the lawsuits, it's likely not about the money, but more so about exposing the truth that they believe remains obfusticated.
These are the only two families who didn't accept the proposed lawsuit last spring. Their lawsuits accuse university officials of making false statements to the Governor's Review Panel and the public, based on information that has come to light since the documents were made available to the 30 families who agreed to the settlement in December and later officially released to the public in February 2009.
The release of this information has called into question many of the decisions made by top-level administrators two years ago, specifically response time in regard to an email sent out to the student body at 9:30 a.m. after the initial shootings in West Ambler-Johnston Hall at 7:15 a.m.
The governor's report also included more specific information about Cho's troubled past and interactions with teachers. Without the settlement, which provided an online record of this information, the families would likely never have seen memos, e-mails and other administrative discussion, which called into question whether they should have done more. The settlement gave us all a more complete picture of the way events transpired and laid the foundation for the lawsuit. Because the Pryde and Peterson families didn't agree to the settlement, they were able to file lawsuits last week, with something greater on which to predicate their claims.
The university has never really been given the opportunity to speak about what happened on April 16, 2007, without fear of being sued. Top administrators can't talk about what they may have wished they had done differently or reflect too deeply on the shootings for fear of provoking legal action.
Once these suits are resolved - regardless of outcome - the university will finally have the opportunity to open up and reflect more freely on what happened.
The editorial board is composed of David Grant, David Harries and Laurel Colella.
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but I'm going to say 'bravo' to the CT Editorial staff for a factual and unbiased piece. Now if we can just make this the norm.
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The editorial (read: opinion) section by nature will have bias. The only editorial anyone will think is "unbiased" either has no "editorial" content, or has opinions that the reader agrees with. I think this "editorial" is crap because it spends five long paragraphs regurgitating the facts that are available in the "news" section, and only three measly sentences on the actual editorial. A waste of space.
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"obfusticated".."These are the only two families who didn't accept the proposed lawsuit (sic) last spring." The "editorial board" should be embarrassed. This was so poorly written that it distracted from any appreciation of content. I'm embarrassed for you.
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Like the governor said, "I'm suprised only 2 families filed suit". Did any of you VTech cheerleaders read the lawsuit? VTech failed to follow it own security policy for immediate campus wide alert and lockdown (sirens and loudspeakers kept off). Your message to VTech Authority Figures, "Do it again cause we will let you get away with it again." Why do the editors keep suggesting the Adminstration can't speak? Not can't - won't. Mr. Hall will be taking their deps soon enough!! HaHaHa.
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I am the non-existant copy editor for the CT. Which explains why so many of the CT stories are so poorly written. In such an important editorial you actually printed the non-word "obfusticated"???? WTF you could at least proofread stories about the shooting.
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If Va Tech had come out with the truth in the first place, I am sure no one would have to sue the school.
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