"Yes, this was free speech, but..." :Teacher Reacts to Disturbed writings

After everything that's happened since 9-11 and after everything that's happened as a result of the Hurricane Katrina, do you think that this time around we'll have more of the 1990s "Oh my god! Is it the Devil Music or irresponsible parents that make evil youth!" or more of the sleek and sexy "The people in charge are to blame!" attitude of the 2000s?

Already, we know that people are upset that the students weren't warned earlier. But now that some details are starting to file in about this derranged little guy:


"When I first heard about the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday, my first thought was about my friends," Ian MacFarlane wrote to AOL, "and my second thought was 'I bet it was Seung Cho'."


Forget knowing about this for 2 hours and not doing anything! Hell! These people knew how odd this guy was for YEARS and didn't do anything about it! Watch this!

Cho, an English major, never wrote about guns or killing people, she said. But his writing was disturbing enough that she went to police and other university officials to seek help. (Watch the professor tell how her student frightened her )

"Reporter: She tried and tried and tried to alert university officials to what she thought was a troubled student ."

"Lou: Such a remarkable woman... the idea that a student... could not be dealt with by the university and by dealt with I mean helped! Is that because of privacy law? What is the reason?


"Reporter: Well she told us the law needs to be changed. Yes, it was sort of an exercise of free speech exercised by the student in these writings... They told her that there was nothing warning of impending violence so because of that they said there was nothing to be done as far as pulling him out of that department, of pulling him out of that program."

Remember being in school and getting in trouble for some saying "I'm going to kill you!" to some jerk in gymn class? Well we have to go even farther than that!

VTech Admins may have been legally obligated to warn students?

In trying to hazard a guess at what topics might come into play over and over again in the coverage of the shooting, I think it's worthwhile to point out a line in the Haas e-mail that leads us to some interesting angles.

We want the Grand Valley community to know that we have had emergency response plans in place for many years. We test, review and update those plans regularly - we did so most recently after the murder of a student at another Michigan university.

A quick Google search to refresh my memory lead me to this story from Detroit. Late last month, a story broke raising questions that school officials at Eastern Michigan University had reason to suspect foul play over the rape and death of a student.... oooonly they might not have told anyone about it.

Despite the implications the death was viewed as suspicious early on by police, university officials did not back down from their earlier statement of no foul play until Taylor was arrested Feb. 23.

University spokesman Ward Mullens said he could not discuss when the university learned it was a possible murder or how the university handled the case.

"I'm not able to say anything relative to the case," he said.

The university's handling of the case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education, and the college has hired Detroit-based law firm Butzel Long P.C. to do an internal review.

Now this is a big deal according to the Clery Act, which states that universities MUST disclose information about crime on or near campus.

Obviously this puts school administrators in the hot seat. On one hand you don't want to scare the bejesus out of your paying custom- er- students. But on the other hand you can't (legally) act like a creepy shadow government and cover up a murder.

Well, connect the dots on your own and see how yesterday's shooting and this murder compare to each other. I heard on NPR today that the VTech president was welcomed with a standing ovation at a memorial service today, how much longer before palm sunday ends and everyone's calling for his execution once this little tidbit of info gets linked to what is already being called a dispicable response time?

Well, what is the news saying?

Students were not warned of any danger until more than two hours after Monday's first attack - at a dormitory where two people were killed.

I guess the defense in that case could be that it's really hard to alert thousands of students all at once. But in the words of a friend of mine "if you started runing around the campus shrieking at the top of your lungs, people would eventually get the idea."

So when you're reading your concerned e-mails from the university admins, keep this story in mind.

University of Findlay e-mails students

Someone forwarded me this today. The President of Student Services e-mailed everyone at the school (about 4,500 students) to tell them to keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers. Findlay is a small university located in Western Ohio.

Compare this simple e-mail to the Fox News Experts reaction.

I'm guessing similar e-mails are going out. Could you e-mail them to me, please at billiamforty@hotmail.com?

From: Dave Emsweller
To:
Subject: Situation at Virginia Tech
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:28 PM

To UF Students, Faculty, and Staff:

As many of you may already be aware, news sources are reporting that 31 people lost their life today on the Virginia Tech campus when an armed man opened fire in a residence hall and then in an academic building. Please keep the Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff in your thoughts and prayers as they cope with this tragic event.

Dave

David Emsweller
Vice President for Student Services
The University of Findlay
Findlay, OH 45840