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Our View: Remember Virginia Tech
Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: Opinion
Today marks the two-year anniversary of a massacre, the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history -- one that will forever stain the pages of history.
Two years ago, on April 16, 2007, then-senior English major Seung-Hui Cho stormed Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virg., shooting and killing 32 students and professors.
There were two separate attacks across the campus that day in only two hours and at the end of it all, Cho took his own life.
As we remember the lives that were lost in just moments in a city 1,340.5 miles away, it is easy to think that we as a university are exempt from such a tragedy and that it could never happen to us.
But it can.
That foundation was called into question Wednesday afternoon when students learned CSU police officers were on the prowl for two men who allegedly carried guns into the Lory Student Center.
After the VT massacre, CSU's Emergency Management Team established an emergency situation text messaging service, which alerts all those connected to emergencies unfolding in the community.
However, text messages were not sent out in response to Wednesday's situation.
Because of this we wonder if we're doing enough to prevent, or at least minimize, the affects of a future situation comparable to VT.
As time and tragedies like VT inevitably unfold, we must remember those who have been lost, accept that we are not immune to such events and develop ways to protect our citizens whenever and however possible.
Two years ago, on April 16, 2007, then-senior English major Seung-Hui Cho stormed Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virg., shooting and killing 32 students and professors.
There were two separate attacks across the campus that day in only two hours and at the end of it all, Cho took his own life.
As we remember the lives that were lost in just moments in a city 1,340.5 miles away, it is easy to think that we as a university are exempt from such a tragedy and that it could never happen to us.
But it can.
That foundation was called into question Wednesday afternoon when students learned CSU police officers were on the prowl for two men who allegedly carried guns into the Lory Student Center.
After the VT massacre, CSU's Emergency Management Team established an emergency situation text messaging service, which alerts all those connected to emergencies unfolding in the community.
However, text messages were not sent out in response to Wednesday's situation.
Because of this we wonder if we're doing enough to prevent, or at least minimize, the affects of a future situation comparable to VT.
As time and tragedies like VT inevitably unfold, we must remember those who have been lost, accept that we are not immune to such events and develop ways to protect our citizens whenever and however possible.
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