The Chicago Tribune, like many other institutions in the media, is awfully quick to blame the administration of Virginia Tech University for failing to warn the student body immediately after two students were shot in what appeared to be a domestic dispute. Parents of Virginia Tech students and supposed "experts" hired by the media have strongly criticized Virginia Tech's President and it appears that some have called for his resignation for not shutting down the 26,000 member campus.
Give me a break! This need to blame someone other than the true culprit is pathetic. It is reminiscent of the media's treatment of the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina or the rush to blame America because the terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. It was wrong then to cast stones at bystanders to the tragedy just as it is wrong now.
What was the administration at Virginia Tech to do? Remember, this is a campus of 26,000 students in addition to thousands of faculty and staff. All together, Virginia Tech is the size of a medium-sized city. Who would have been responsible for enforcing a lockdown of this city? Further, how could you justify shutting down a city of, let's say, 35,000 people because of what appeared to be a single domestic dispute. Based on this logic and considering proportion, we should lock down the North side of Milwaukee on the weekends where you typically see as many as eight shootings a night in the summer.
Yesterday was an outrage and people should be angry. However, direct your anger at the lunatic shooter where it belongs, not at the Virginia Tech administration.
-matthew
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