The University Daily Kansan responds to the Virginia Tech tragedy
Whether we were directly affected, the tragedy at Virginia Tech touches us all. What is most horrifying about this massacre is that it could have been us. On Monday the University of Kansas could have woken up to the sound of gunshots resounding through Jayhawk Boulevard, or had its students hide under desks dodging bullets. Instead we woke up to the familiar sound of the campus whistle and sat peacefully through lectures in Budig, stopping only to silently huddle around televisions and cell phones to watch the violence unfold hundreds of miles away. It could have been us, but it wasn't. Because we are part of a university community we share a profound understanding of the impact of this senseless act of violence. As university students, professors, faculty and staff members ourselves we share a common thread. As a forum for University opinions we've dedicated this page to comments, reactions and opinions about this tragedy. We'll be open to your feelings, in whatever form they may come; from letters to the editor, to Free For All comments to editorial cartoons. We'll continue to print your submissions as long as you send them.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 11A
》 OUR VIEW
Amidst tragedy, University should remember and rally
And let no one say that violence is the courageous way, that violence is the short route, that violence is the easy route. Because violence will bring no answer: It will bring no answer to your union; it will bring no answer to your people; it will bring no answer to us here in the United States, as a people.
— Robert F. Kennedy
This morning, thousands of KU students awoke to their peaceful lives, took a sharp breath of fresh April air, and began their collective Wednesday. Few, if any, of our lives have been shattered by violence; little, if any, of our calm has been disrupted by the cruel winds of fate. The sun still shines in idyllic Lawrence, as it will tomorrow and the next day.
Hundreds of miles away in Blacksburg, Va., 32 others are not so lucky, their lives snuffed out too soon by a man who held no grudge, bore no umbrage, against them. To say their deaths were senseless is to understate the matter — their premature departures are simply and cruelly unfair.
In the days and weeks to come, the U.S. will begin a national self-examination, peering inside its heart, its soul, searching for some explanation or justification for this violence. We will likely find no answer, but such is the nature of illogical violence. What we will find is a host of
In the final analysis, we student must carry on the best we can, equipped with the sad knowledge that those steadfastly determined to kill and be killed can rarely be deterred, only contained.
alleged culprits: violent video games and the sometimes lonely souls who play them, frequently lax gun laws and their loophole-laden texts, the torturous pain of adolescent love and the tumultuous transitions of college campuses.
We will find those eager to place blame, desperate to lay this horrific tragedy at the feet of some wrongdoer. Their pursuit will be sadly
understood, affirmed with a quiet nod as we all try to make sense of tragic events. But in our rush to find some archetypal cause upon which to pin the culpability, let us not recoil in fear
or cower in trepidation, afraid to live our lives.
Is it so hard to imagine such an act happening on our beloved campus? The horror struck a university of about the same size, in a college town of equally placid stature. The thought of such an event occurring here or in any number of schools is terrifyingly believable, but this should not create an atmosphere of constant terror.
We will stand tall in the face of violence and fear. We will not dread those cowardly souls who find their only voice in the barrel of a gun. We will not allow the
depraved selfishness of murderers to force adjustments in our lives to their contemptible and malicious whims.
In the final analysis, we students must carry on the best we can, equipped with the sad knowledge that those steadfastly determined to kill and be killed can rarely be deterred, only contained. And as we watch the peaceful calm of campus enclaves, which semester by semester recedes before us, we remain ever vigilant, ever unyielding, ever hopeful.
— McKay Stangler for the editorial board
》 LETTERTOTHEEDITOR
Healing and reactions shouldn't begin with anger
My roommate told me his response to the Virginia Tech tragedy involved anger. Every time he flipped on the TV, he said, he became more and more furious. While I understand why he feels this way, to me his anger seems too easy of an emotion, too selfish of one. We need to get beyond this rage and start responding differently. Instead of miroring the Virginia Tech killer's rashness and lack of rationality with unchecked passion and outbursts, we must rise above and seek more meaningful approaches to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
and discrimination. I worry now we will go through a similar process of unfounded conclusions about the killer and build harmful stereotypes upon his personality or beliefs.
If there's one thing I hope 9/11 and our country's spiraling reactions afterwards taught us, it's that making decisions or shaping beliefs out of anger is wrong. After 9/11, many in our country ignorantly feared Islam was a violent religion and that all Arabs were untrustworthy and acted upon these fears through racism
Perhaps the worst thing a tragedy like the Virginia Tech shootings can indicate is that in our own backyard, in apple pie America, something like this can happen. That means something deeply troubling, because we are all products of our society and culture. Hard questions arise: are we doing all we can in America to prevent violence? How do we ensure safety? I do not mean to absolve the young man of his crimes; they deny any possible acquittal. Instead, I merely ask that we examine the conscience of our larger culture and ourselves. Let the search for the prevention of further violence begin there, not with anger.
Tim Stauffer lola senior
>> LETTER TO THE EDITOR
University should reevaluate security in wake of tragedy
In light of the tragic events that recently unfolded at Virginia Tech, I think we need to take a close look at lacking security measures at our universities. As a university student, I can tell you that security on university campuses across the nation, including the University of Kansas, is extremely inadequate.
While most campuses boast an efficient Department of Public Safety, they lack one of the most important communication tools needed during times of crisis. While the University has an efficient method of mass electronic communication through its Website and through e-mails, it doesn't have an effective way to let all people on campus in every building know that there is an imminent emergency unfolding. A public address system or warning siren system should be installed in every university building as well as along Jayhawk Boulevard to let KU students, faculty and staff know that
a dire situation is unfolding and lock-down is necessary. From what I understand, Virginia Tech had some sort of PA system and/or warning sirens, and the gunman was still able to massacre 32 people
I fear what the toll could have been if a warning system had not been in place. I'm sure the University has an emergency response plan but few students are actually aware of it, rendering it useless in an actual emergency. The University should make a better effort at informing students about proper procedures during an emergency. After Columbine, security measures were greatly improved in American high schools, but little was done for American universities. I hope that action to increase security on college campuses follows this horrible event.
Matt Becker
Prairie Village sophomore
Grant Snider/KANSAN
》 COMMENTARY
Day-to-day images of violence desensitize culture
Sadly, an old wound has to be reopened. Every few years, it seems another senseless act of violence forces us to reevaluate where we, as a society, stand on things such as violence in the media, and the availability of guns. In the late 1990s, there was a long and bitter debate over the role of the media in the Columbine massacre, and while it is not as strong as it once was, it never quite died down. Unfortunately, the assault on Virginia Tech by one of its own students forces us to look again at where such horrific acts of violence can come from.
It seemed as if people who blamed video games and music videos were just zealots trying to water down the entertainment industry. I myself used to believe this, but it is hard to be sure any more. The most prominent acts of gun violence in the last ten years have been by
young people, who are the target audiences for video games featuring heavily-armed criminals who rarely have to face consequences for their actions, movies featuring
shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later heroes and a general glorification of what one person can do with the right amount of ammunition.
BY BEN COHEN
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
In 1998, two middle school students in Jonesboro, Arkansas killed five people, and wounded several others. In 1999, two high school students laid siege to a school in Littleton, Colorado and left thirteen people dead and several others wounded. In 2004, a crazed fan in his twenties shot and killed rock musician Dimebag Darrell
Abbott onstage at a concert, along with three other people. The death toll of the attack on the campus of Virginia Tech has been placed at over thirty
people. Accounts
from survivors describe having to be locked into classrooms to protect themselves from the gunman and barricading a door to keep him out
Mass murders do not just happen. Someone, or something, must put it into the minds of those who carry these acts out that what they are doing is the right thing. When we are surrounded by images of violence on a day-to-day basis, it is more than likely that at least some of us will be desensitized to them at some point. The question then is
begged, what is the solution? Would greater restraint by the entertainment industry, or even something as extreme as censorship, be what it takes to keep the seeds of horrific violence out of the heads of young people in America? Or do we need to reevaluate gun culture in general? Countless vehicles are adorned with stickers expressing the respective driver's love of their firearm, while the National Rifle Association would have us believe that owning a gun is a greater display of freedom and national pride than freedom of speech.
Regardless, there must be a solution. How many more innocent lives have to be lost before we wake up and realize that something is wrong?
Cohen is a Topeka sophomore in journalism.
FREE FOR ALL
My thoughts and prayers to those killed this morning at Virginia Tech. This is a tragic and terrible
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve
thing
the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are
To the guy who called in the comment about global warming, I did some research. Turns out youre a
douchebag
Erroneous! Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts!
man speaking out in front of Wescoe today. Don't these people have anything better to do?
Dear four square club, where did you? Please come back.
There appears to be another crazy
recorded.
It's so nice and bright out. I feel like I'm on shrooms.
Free for All is my new addiction.
your shit.
I've done the KU Trivia for the past two semesters, and I still haven't won. I want to know when I'm
You know why you don't have parties? Because people steal
jonna
Free for All, am I thankful for the toilet paper that rolls freely in Anschutz library, as opposed to everywhere else, where it's a requirement to get new sources.
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battle to get one square.
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》 SUBMISSIONS
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Gabriella Souza, Nicole Kelley, Patrick Ross, Courtney Hagen, Natalie Johnson, Alison Kleier, Tasha Riggins and McKay Stangler