Collegiate Times

Kenneth Feinberg, appointed by President Steger to mediate between families affected in the April 16 tragedy and the Virginia Tech Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, held several meetings to discuss the fund’s proposed payout plan introduced last week.

The families were all invited to attend the meetings this past week in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, where the proposed payout plan was circulated.

Although the actual dialogue from the meetings is confidential, a few general topics of discussion were the proposed payout plan, how to allocate the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund and how long donations should be accepted into the future.

The meetings also consisted of a few hours of talking about the tragedy, how suddenly it occurred, and the days since then, Feinberg said.

"The families are grateful I'm involved in this process with them," Feinberg said.

More meetings will be held in the following week, and Feinberg is inviting families to meet again and continue dialogue about how to use the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

There will be meetings in Northern Virginia on Friday, New Jersey on Monday, Blacksburg on Tuesday, and possibly Richmond on Wednesday, Feinberg said.

In the proposed payout plan, there are five classifications created by Feinberg for families and individuals eligible to receive money from the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

The five classifications are options for families and individuals making death claims, physical injury claims that involve hospitalization of more than 15 days, physical injury claims of hospitalization of three to 14 days, other physical injury claims and all others.

Right now, the proposed payout plan created by Feinberg includes the possibilities of a complete payout, the creation of a scholarship in the name of the deceased individual, or a combination of both for deceased victims.

There are also options for individuals who were hospitalized, including the option of receiving a year-long tuition scholarship.

The possible claims also include individuals who were in Norris Hall during the shootings for psychological trauma.

For families that have received psychological care, there is the possibility of receiving reimbursement for their treatments from the Virginia Criminal Injuries Fund.

Also, for students psychologically harmed, the plan proposes free counseling through the Cook Counseling Center of Virginia Tech.

The claims for these options would have to be filed Sept. 15 and would entitle victims' families or individuals to meet with Feinberg to discuss all of the options.

The proposed plan stipulates that all donations to the Fund are to be closed Aug. 1.
Feinberg hopes to have finalized the payout plan by the middle of August, after hearing the opinions of those involved.

"The Virginia Tech administration, including President Steger all the way down, has been extremely cooperative in helping me gain insight. They have been extremely helpful with this," Feinberg said.