Thousands of students run Virginia Tech's "3.2 Run in Remembrance" throughout campus on April 16, 2010.
“Beginnings are sometimes hard. The path is not always clear,” read a poem at the April 16 memorial bench dedication ceremony.
As Virginia Tech marked the third anniversary of the April 16, 2007, shootings that claimed 32 victims’ lives, that once-foggy path has became more defined. April 16, 2010, marked the beginning of a major transition in the way the university will commemorate future anniversaries of the day.
This year’s commemorations — including the creation of new themes for the event — foreshadow much of what is now planned for anniversaries in 2011 and beyond.
For the third Day of Remembrance since the shootings, the 2009 steering committee decided to add an academic theme to the day’s calendar: For the first time, a Day of Remembrance shifted beyond solely the victims of Seung-Hui Cho.
Daniel Wubah serves as Tech’s dean for undergraduate education. He and Karen DePauw, his graduate school counterpart, were asked last year to co-chair an academic workgroup to organize the day’s academic-centered activities.
“Students are being connected to what happened that day, but also to look forward,” Wubah said.
“We want students to get a chance to reflect on what that day means; even though (many current students) were not here, it’s part of our history,” he said. “As a member of this community, how would you move beyond what happened that day, and build on it?”
One such activity was “Hokie Stone: An Event of Student Shared Knowledge,” a student showcase of research that took place throughout the afternoon in Squires Colonial Ballroom. Other features included designated reflection spaces and numerous artwork exhibitions.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 20 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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As someone who survived 4/16 it's time to start moving on. After this year almost everyone that was there will have graduated. It's time to start having classes on 4/16 again and while those affected will never forget for everyone else it's an excuse to skip. Those affected will be gone it's time to move forward.
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Agreed. The school needs to stop using this as an excuse to get media face time.
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Cho's awful crimes DID get Virginia Tech on the cover of national newsmagazines, rather than just Sports Illustrated and brought the POTUS to town. That wouldn't have ever happened under normal circumstances. Of course the school benefited from the media spotlight, it won't likely ever return like that to Blacksburg.
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And not to justify the actions at University of Texas, but it was not some meek mentally ill failing foreign student peppering victims at close range, it was Charles Whitman, an architecture student who went batty from brain tumor. He hit targets as far away as _400 yards_. Dang!
Where did he learn to shoot? The U.S. Marine Corps.
Residents of Austin got out their shotguns and began firing up at the tower (guess it wasn't a "gun free zone")
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I have to disagree with this comment. Even though most of the students will be graduated and left, those affected are still here. The faculty, staff and community will never forget this tragedy. It wasn't just students that were lost, remember that..
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I'm not saying no memorials at all I'm saying a return to classes and more of an internal reflection than a big ceremony on 4/16.
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Thanks Dadave. I was not here on April 16th but I feel like i was still deeply affected by what happened, and no offense to any seniors, but I know people who were here who did not take any part of the event seriously, and in my opinion AND theirs were not affected by it at all.
Having been here when it happened does not solely qualify you for being affected by it and having NOT been here when it happened DOES NOT mean that you werent affected by it. Many people I know lost classmates and close friends that day. Remember how many of the victims were freshman and almost all of them would have had friends or siblings still in high school, many of which attend Tech now.
Please do not act like people who werent here were not affected and just want to take the day off. It makes me feel deeply disappointed in my school and the Senior class here.
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I did not intend for my comments to come across as an insult and for those that take it that way I'm sorry. That said if you weren't there you can't know what we went through and how it affects us. Those seniors not participating are dealing with the events in their own way. I know because I'm one of them I don't do the memorial stuff and deal with this internally. Regardless of what they tell you it did affect them I know I would never admit that it affected me to someone face to face. You were not affected like we were and it's frankly obscene to me that way you try and find a way to connect to it and claim to be affected. I do realize that it's mostly out of ignorance of what it truly means to be affected by something like 4/16 so it's not enraging to me when people try and claim that. You need to realize that you aren't affected you merely wish to be and trust me it's not something you want to be affected by. You can't understand what it's like to experience it first hand and to bring to bring that kind of baggage to every situation. Be glad you weren't here.
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I agree with the post above, but at the same time your attitude towards it is immature and pompous. Who are you to say if we should get the day off or not. There is without a doubt still many who are still here that are affected by this event. This includes faculty, students, and staff. I don't see why it's even such a big deal that there is no class on this particular day. If you choose to be academic that day, then by all means, study your hearts out. If you choose to take the day off and reflect, then it's your choice. You have no right telling what people who are affected and who aren't affected what to do. The fact is, we get the day off and it allows for people who want to remember and reflect, to do just that. It doesn't even matter if the people who participate are affected or not. It's still a day when the Hokie Community can come together and become a closer knit community. You should be at least happy not "enraged" that this is one of the few good things that came out of such a tragic event.
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You guys do realize that their plan all along was to start having classes on 4/16 once the class of 2010 graduates right? So there were never planning on do this every year forever.
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It's a very tough thing to me to think of how the day should be handled in the future. For me it will always be the anniversary of the day my friends died. After this year though, most any student there on 4/16/07 will have graduated. This shift has been happening for 3 years. It will become impossible for a student body to hold a day or remembrance for a day they don't remember. It saddens me to think that my friends will fade to only a simple stone in a semi circle, but I do believe in the next couple of years that will be all that is left.
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The same thing is true about Memorial Day. I bet you're (and many others) are out having a barbecue and not walking around Civil War era cemeteries as would have occurred a century and twenty years ago, when the deaths from battle were more prescient in the public mind.
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Im sorry about your loss but I just want to let you know that although many members of the classes of 2011, 2012, 2013 and beyond were not here, we still remember and many of us were deeply affected by what happened. There hasnt been a day thats gone by since 4/16 that I havent thought about what happened, and I wasnt here.
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You don't understand what we went through, you couldn't. Stop claiming you were affected, you weren't compared to us. It haunts me and every time I think I'm over it it comes back and reminds me that part of me died that day. Be thankful that you were not here and celebrate the fact that your innocence is intact. I'm happy that you weren't here that day.
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Xin Yang, January 21, 2009
David Lee Metzler & Heidi Lynn Child, August 26, 2009
Morgan Dana Harrington, October 17, 2009
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Alexander DeFilippis - December 4, 1995
Bet you hadn't heard of him? My only point is, the circumstances and names of these crimes and victims fade with time.
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No, a little before my time...sophmore
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Exactly. Your relation to 1995 will be the relation of the class of 2019 to 2007.
"Oh the school has a grim footnote? (shrugs). That was before my time..."
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I suggest all of you talking about minimizing the rememberance events go read Ray Plaza's article in the opinion section. It might provide you with some insight on what other people are thinking.
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What extremely ignorantly insensitive person chose the title for this article in the print version?
...i mean...wow...
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100% agree with you
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It means that the don't want the day to focus on the violence and insanity of the loser Cho, but rather the lives of those who were Hokies.
I got to thinking, if Cho had just managed to get a girlfriend at Tech, the massacre might not have happened. But alas....
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Quoting:
"You don't understand what we went through, you couldn't. Stop claiming you were affected, you weren't compared to us. It haunts me and every time I think I'm over it it comes back and reminds me that part of me died that day. Be thankful that you were not here and celebrate the fact that your innocence is intact. I'm happy that you weren't here that day."
Really?
You can not truly believe that someone who wasn't here at the time but lost close friends that day and/or had friends and family members injured was not impacted more than someone who was here & knew none of the victims. This has been the case with many people that I know personally. The psychological trauma associated with losing a friend or family member or a friend/family member being injured is not even on the same level. The person you were responding to could have known one of those people personally. You can not try and say that the affect it had on them was not equal to the effect it had on you just because they were not here.
Furthermore, people who did not know anyone and were not connected to the community at all can still be deeply affected. This is the case with any sort of traumatic event. Affected in the same way? No. But affected? Yes.
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