Collegiate Times

cook center

In a legal response to lawsuits filed by families of April 16 victims, the former Cook Counseling Center director who located Seung-Hui Cho's medical records at his home revealed he was fired from the center after answering questions from the plaintiffs.

Cho's medical records
Records returned by Miller
Miller's legal response
Related: Released health documents reveal Cho's mental state

Robert Miller, who was director of the center when Cho visited for several appointments in 2005, released the answers through attorney Ed McNelis.

In his responses, Miller said he was fired from his position at the center following an external review performed at his suggestion. After being told to leave his position, he "inadvertently removed the records" while cleaning his office between Feb. 27-March 9, 2006.

"No one else was involved in removing the files and no one assisted me in moving out of my Cook Counseling Center office," Miller said in the document.

Miller also outlined details of his departure from the center.

He said he suggested the external review in the fall of 2005. The review began Dec. 14, 2005, which was also the date of the last interaction Cho had with the center.

Miller said the review had "nothing to do with Mr. Cho."

He said "sometime around Christmas 2005," former Vice President of Student Affairs Zenobia Hikes informed him "she intended to remove (him) as Director and reassign me to some unspecified position."

Miller was eventually told to leave his position at the center by March 9, 2006.

He said he accidentally packed Cho's records while preparing to leave his office.

"Cho's triage records and the records of the other clients were in a manila folder that I mistakenly packed into boxes with my personal items," Miller said in the document.

One of the counselors Cho met with, Cathye Betzel, asked Miller if he knew where the records were following the shootings, according to the document.

Miller said he told her he did not have records for any Cook Counseling Center clients.

He said in the documents he did not alter the files while they were in their possession.

When he found the records, Miller said he informed McNelis.

The documents were returned to current Cook Counseling Center Director Christopher Flynn on July 16 in the Blacksburg Public Library Parking Lot.

Families of April 16 victims were offered the opportunity to submit corrections for the Virginia Tech Governor's Panel Report earlier in the summer. The corrections are due today.

Information sent to families from the governor's office said independent information systems company TriData will compile the corrections and complete a revised report by Oct. 31. At that time, a decision will be made on whether or not to reconvene the panel.