I find that to be a reasonable concern. Were university officials concerned that Tech would be viewed as a dangerous place if these lockdowns kept happening? Were they worried fiscal donations would suffer from such speculations? Or did they honestly think the only possible suspect was already being pursued?
Another issue this lawsuit will examine is the treatment Seung-Hui Cho received at Cook Counseling Center, as the families allege negligence on the part of several therapists at the Center. Cho made three visits there in 2005 and was triaged each time, with no diagnosis or treatment provided.
The suit filed by the Peterson family expresses their discontent with how Cook Counseling treated Cho, despite the concerns brought forth by multiple members of the English department. Fingers are also pointed at Cook Counseling for not creating and/or maintaining records of his three visits there, which is required by law.
"Because the professional staff of the Cook Counseling Center professes to have lost all records of Seung-Hui Cho's contacts with the professionals at the center, it is clear they rendered no mental health services to an obviously disturbed student," the suit reads.
Would more thorough psychological services have prevented April 16? We will never know. And will these accusations give us any new answers? It's impossible to say.
But the families of Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde want more information, and the American judicial system says they should have it.
With that said, I'm fully aware that what's done is done. The only person truly responsible for April 16 cannot be brought to trial. And no high court or massive settlement will bring back Erin or Julia. Furthermore, to most people, the questions constantly being asked will never have satisfactory explanations.
But it's important to acknowledge that mistakes were made if we want to prevent them from happening again. And if laws were broken, people should be held accountable.
It's also important to remember that we can't understand the pain these families feel. We can't say with absolute certainty that we'd be satisfied with the information that's been provided thus far.
So before we cynically assume that money is the only motivation these families have, we should remember that we don't see April 16, 2007, through their eyes.
And we shouldn't judge the choices of those whose shoes we don't stand in.
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All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
VT adopted Campus and Workplace Violence Prevention Policy in June of 2005. It stresses that carrying guns on campus will get you expelled or fired. It also stresses that students found to be stalking others can and will be expelled. It seems to me that Cho was found to have stalked two women. He was never expelled or threatened with expulsion. Had he been expelled he probably would have just ended up back in Nova with his family. Would he have come back and committed a massacre? I don't know. But it is clear to all of us that VT can't and/or won't stand by their own resolutions they adopt in the name of safety.
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Read all about it here http://www.hr.vt.edu/employeescorner/workplaceviolence/index.html
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His pending graduation was probably a mitigating factor. We know he was extremely paranoid from mental illness. What do you think an expulsion would do? Guessing games.
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@Liza, I agree no one can understand what the parents have gone through and we shouldn't "cynically assume" their motivation (I prefer logical assumption). But, I admit there are two outstanding questions that would help clarity everyones (or maybe just my) opinion and understanding of this lawsuit: 1) Why such a large amount? 2) Who will be paying the bill, assuming a settlement is awarded. Until these are answered, I don't think you should judge anyone for judging a public lawsuit.
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I would be interested to know what these two families are planning on doing with the money if they win. They could eliminate any and all accusations of greed if they say they will donate all settlements to charity. Also, no one in the administration can be held responsible for what happened, so I don't think anyone should lose their job. Complete transparency in the administration's actions that day should exonerate them and bring closure to this question.
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Pouring salt on open wounds is the phrase you were looking for. Pouring alcohol on wounds is helpful because it kills bacteria...
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