Friday's article, "Cho family will not benefit from memorial fund," (CT, Sept. 21), about Seung-Hui Cho's family not receiving any portion of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund made me feel very sad and unsettled about how our university is handling this situation.
The statement by Ken Feinberg saying, "We are trying to promote healing," by not including the Cho family in the distribution of the fund is one of the most oxymoronic and painful statements that I have ever read. I can understand not erecting a memorial for him along with the other 32 victims on the Drillfield. I can also understand not inviting his family to the gatherings and meetings of the victims' families, but I cannot fathom that our university would choose to take such a cold-hearted step in excluding the Cho family from any of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.
Does that, within itself, reflect the Hokie Spirit? Was Cho a Hokie? Yes, he was for over three years. It is incredibly saddening and irresponsible for the university to sweep its "black sheep" under the carpet and ignore that he or his family ever existed. We rally ourselves around Hokie Spirit. We rally ourselves toward healing and growing as a university, as well as a human race.
What kind of message are we sending to the world by choosing to push away the family of the young man who brought so much pain to this campus? What message is Virginia Tech sending to its thousands of students, faculty and staff by so readily abandoning a Hokie family that has dealt with and continues to experience so much pain? Yes, Cho did a horrible thing. Yes, he carved an immeasurable piece out of the heart and soul of this campus and its people. But I beg you to see the plight of his family; the people who raised him and took care of him.
Should they be so horribly mistreated for doing their very best to raise their child? Should we punish them for raising one, disturbed young man? On Oct. 2, 2006, a man stormed into an Amish schoolhouse and killed several children. What did the Amish do to help themselves heal? They rallied together, much like we have. They embraced each other and cried, also just as we have. But then they went to the family of the man who slaughtered their children and they shared with them.
Through all their grief and pain, the Amish families found it possible to support the killer's family during some of their darkest moments. In helping the family of the murderer heal its broken heart, the Amish themselves found healing. I am not suggesting we follow this exact path, because the circumstances are different, but what I am asking the university to do is to take a stand for the one family that has received no aid or support from the university. Forgiveness is recognized around the world as a major step in the healing process. So this is my challenge to the university: Stand by its firm belief in the Hokie Spirit by reaching out to the Cho family, a Hokie family first and foremost.
Take the lead in the process of healing by showing the world that this university can forgive and does not abandon its own.
Jordan Chang
Junior, HNFE