Just over a month after the original release of a revised Governor’s Panel report on the April 16, 2007 shootings on Virginia Tech’s campus, an addendum to the revision has been published, but several families say their suggestions were not taken into account.
The new edition of the report says after initial publication of the original, “a few errors or unclear points were reported,” and the addendum attempts to correct those. TriData, an independent information systems company, completed the revision and addendum.
Several families affected by Seung Hui Cho’s April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech created a separate addendum to the Governor’s Panel report on the shootings that alleges the university did not follow its own emergency response procedures.
The families’ addendum, which has been obtained by the Collegiate Times, was sent to Gov. Tim Kaine Friday by the family of Norris Hall victim Michael Pohle Jr. a month after Kaine released a revised version of the original Governor’s Panel report on the shootings. They also cited efforts of Michael Bishop and Suzanne Grimes. Some families were unhappy that the original panel was not reconvened to revise the report. Instead, TriData compiled the revisions. According to e-mails obtained by the Collegiate Times, the TriData addendum was in the works prior to the families sending their addendum.
PDF: Supplement to review panel report presented to Gov. Tim Kaine
Link: April 16, 2007 victims' familes Web site
“We had also hoped that by providing factual input to this addendum to the original panel report we would take further important steps through the grieving process,” the families’ addendum’s introduction said. “All along, we wanted to collaborate face to face with panel members and TriData personnel in creating the most thorough accounting of that day. Unfortunately, that opportunity never came, in our opinion, as our requests were rejected.”
However, the Governor's office had asked TriData to begin corrections for the original addendum before receiving the families' proposed addendum. Comments and corrections were taken in immediately and forwarded to TriData. Gordon Hickey, Kaine's press secretary, said Tuesday afternoon that the newest addendum to the Governor's Report began shortly after the original revision was released in late November.
Two university suggestions were changed in the newest revision. The university said Director of Government Affairs Ralph Byers locked his own office, not President Charles Steger's, contrary to the original report.
Another change involved two university officials that notified family members of the initial shootings in West Ambler Johnston Hall. The newly revised report is changed to say that the two officials were not members of the decision-making Policy Group.
Kim O'Rourke, Steger's chief of staff, called her son. Lisa Wilkes, an assistant vice president serving under then-Vice President James Hyatt, informed her mother of the shootings. The original report named them as members of the Policy Group, but the university told TriData they were not.
However, a university document from March 2008, sent to the Collegiate Times by a family member, that lists Policy Group members as well as support staff shows both as official Policy Group members.
Input and research from family members of victims was also compiled for the families' addendum, which only addressed the revised report’s Summary of Key Findings and Timeline of Events.
Hickey said the families' addendum has been looked at by Kaine's office and forwarded to TriData. He said he had not cross-referenced to check if the families' concerns were addressed by the TriData addendum.
The families' addendum said two emergency response plans were in effect on the day of the shootings. A 2005 Tech plan entitled “Campus Safety a Shared Responsibility,” is quoted by the addendum as mandating the Tech Police to issue a timely warning in the situation of a “potential dangerous situation.”
It continues to point out that Tech Police did not send a warning following the first two shootings in West AJ.
The Governor’s Report indicates university administrators that had assembled in Burruss Hall sent out the warnings, but it said technical difficulties prevented them from sending a warning prior to the class change immediately before Cho’s shootings in Norris Hall.
A separate set of procedures, the Emergency Response Plan, also published in 2005, is discussed more thoroughly in the panel report. The families' addendum said several key elements of the ERP were not planned out by the university.
The ERP called for a Vice President in Charge, an Emergency Response Coordinator and an Emergency Response Resource Group operating in addition to the Policy Group that convened in Burruss Hall.
The Vice President in Charge would have acted as a liaison between the groups, according to the ERP. However, no ERRG was convened. According to the ERP, it was the responsibility of the ERRG to issue a campus-wide alert.
Neither the report nor the families' addendum specifies whether the university ever appointed an ERRG. The families' addendum said a representative from University Relations on the ERRG could have issued a warning. University spokesman Larry Hincker sent out the initial warning, according to the Governor's Report.
The latest version of the Governor's Report says their actions "followed one of the policies but conflicted with the other regarding police authority to send out an alert. The mechanics of the alert system precluded the police from sending an alert directly."
The families of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson, who were not involved in creating the addendum, await the ruling of a judge on whether they can proceed with civil suits against university officials and mental health professionals involved in the university response to the shootings and the treatment of Cho.
All other victims' families have been invited to meet with Kaine on Saturday in Richmond, the last of three meetings guaranteed by the settlement they signed following the shootings. A Powerpoint presentation of police briefings originally shown to family members in the fall of 2008 has been added to the April 16 archive accessible in Newman Library and the Library of Virginia.
Hickey called it a social event, saying it marked the end of Kaine's term as governor, but that he would still be available should the families wish to speak with him.