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April 16, 2007
The Virginia Tech Shootings
When something like the killings at Virginia Tech happen there are often all too predicable reactions.
Of course, there is the natural and appropriate reaction of shock, grief and horror. Then there is the "why does this seem to happen so often?" reaction followed by the "what can be done to prevent this is the future?" reaction.
The first reaction is, as I said, appropriate. Who could be so callous not to see tragedy for the students and faculty who were killed and wounded? It is easy to identify with their families. Among those of us who have spent a large portions of our lives in some association with the university, who cannot feel a deep sense of betrayal and loss?
But I do worry about the other reactions. First, such events, while too frequent, are as a matter of fact infrequent. We hear about everyone of them. Today's slaughter is the largest of its type ever in the United States (but see update below). One needs to go back to 1966 for the second largest on campus slaughter when 16 people where killed by a single gunman at the University of Texas. Time Online has what seems to be a rather complete list of such events on campuses from elementary schools to graduate universities since 1966. By my count, 115 persons, including those killed today, have been killed in association with school activities since 1966. Of these 115 persons, 29% were killed today and over 60% were killed during just four such events. While any death of this kind is unacceptable, these numbers are indicative of extremely low mortality rates. Be angry, be in mourning, but don't over state the problem. Today's killings are comparable to the violate deaths almost any day in Baghdad.
The third reaction bothers me most of all. Today's killings, like almost all such killings, are the work of a single (or possibly, no more than two) individual(s). Almost any reaction that does not comprehend the psychological state of that individual will lead to making the campus less open, frankly, less academic. More locks, short of a virtual army, more armed guards and more security measures will do little to prevent such events and can do great harm to the academy. Sure, campus security should be reviewed and perhaps some things can be done better without causing disproportionate harm. And while I doubt that any laws would have prevented today's tragedy, it's likely a good thing to take the occasion to review gun control legislation. But I worry about the negative effects of pervasive campus security on the very institutions that we look to for instruction.
I am not an academic. I did spend a lot of time in school. My children are both academics. As a parent, I worry about them. I worry about them becoming victims of something like today's tragedy. One of them teaches at a school that has seen violence. Indeed, four students were killed and nine wounded in 1970 at the school where she now teaches. I worry, that one of the veiled threats that they receive from time to time from disgruntled students will become tragic realities. But I worry more that what is among the best parts of their lives will be irrevocably harmed by an overreaction to horrible but infrequent events.
Update: March 17, 2007
I want to thank David Tisdale for pointing out in a comment below that yesterdays killings were not the worst campus related killings in US history. As he pointed out, the worst was in 1927 when a person acting alone killed 45 elementary school children with a thousand pounds of dynamite. You can read about it here. I would point out that even with this horrendous 1927 crime, Scholl related killings are low frequency events. David does agrees with me that an over reaction would be detrimental to the academy.
Posted by Duane Smith at April 16, 2007 8:34 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
Actually, it aint the worst. According to Al Jazeera, in 1927, one Andrew Kehoe blew up a school in Bath Michigan, killing 45 and wounding 61 others. Other than that, I agree with you; every ideologue is going to recast the facts to suit his/her/its own priorities.
Far as I'm concerned, the worst memorial we can give those dead kids is to turn campuses into locked boxes.
Posted by: David Tisdale at April 17, 2007 12:58 AM
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