He said they later located the policies governing the university’s response to an emergency that had been published in the 2005-2006 faculty guide. Hall said the document had been deleted from Tech’s Web site in the days following the shootings.
Pohle said the revisions also failed to clarify other conflicting accounts of the events.
The revised report said Hincker attempted to send an alert to the university community at 8:50 a.m. It said the failed attempt, which would have informed students of the shootings in West Ambler-Johnson Hall, was caused by technical difficulties.
Pohle said the report leaves out some inner workings of the university policy group, which included several of the defendants in the suits.
He said during an October 2008 meeting between victims’ families and policy group members, the officials said they decided to delay the alert until after the next class session. During that class session, Cho killed 32 in Norris Hall. That information is not reflected in the revised report.
Another point of controversy involved the revised report’s claim that two “policy group” members informed family members of the West AJ shootings before the university community was alerted.
A statement from university spokesman Mark Owczarski said “two University staff, who were not Policy Group members, did have conversations with family members in which they made mention of a shooting on campus.”
Pohle said the language in the university’s statement was misleading, claiming the staff members who made the phone calls were privy to policy group information and were paid more than $100,000 per year.
Hall, after extensive discovery research, said the revised report did not offer much information they had not already encountered.
He also said Miller, who was unknowingly in possession of Cho’s records until July, offered differing explanations of the universities mental health policies.
In a discovery response to the plaintiffs, Miller, who is a defendant, said he did not fill out a triage form after speaking to professor Lucinda Roy about Cho’s behavior because of confidentiality concerns.
However, in an inspector general’s report on the discovery of the documents, he said it was customary to fill out a triage form when consulting faculty about a student.
Pohle said he and other families still consider the report to be incomplete and plan on publishing their own addition.
“Several of the families are currently discussing it, and we are probably going to publish a supplement to that addition,” Pohle said.
The victims’ families have been invited to the final meeting with current Gov. Tim Kaine guaranteed by a settlement signed following the shootings. Only the Peterson and Pryde families did not sign the settlement.
Pohle said he hopes the pending civil suits can shed more light on the events of April 16.
“I wish them the absolute best and we hope they proceed,” Pohle said, “Because it appears that’s going to be the closest we ever get to finding out the complete truth.”
Continue Reading: « Previous12
Leave a comment 3 Comments Write a letter to the editor
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.
While some may believe it is necessary to continue to "stir" the debate about the tragic events of April 16, I believe it is time to put the issue to rest. For those of us who were here on that snowy morning in 2007 the memories of those who were killed will never leave us, the stories of heroism will never be forgotten, and the emotions we felt will never really go away. Hind sight is 20/20. Of course it is easy to point fingers, to blame President Steger or other members of the administration. But we all know the one person who is really to blame for this. I agree some mistakes may have been made, but to say that this was someone's fault is just wrong. No one was, or ever is, prepared tragedy.
Reply to this Top
I totally agree.
Reply to this Top
University officials did not even follow the Campus and Workplace Violence Prevention Policy passed by the BOV back in 2005. That policy states a student found to be stalking someone can be permanently suspended and barred from campus. This of course should have happened to Cho based on his stalking of at least one (but I think two, based on my reading) student. VT failed to follow their own disciplinary action set forth in their own policy. What a surprise.
Reply to this Top