“We extend our deepest sympathy to our friends and colleagues at Virginia Tech. In this moment of profound tragedy, we share your grief, anguish and loss. The sad truth as we all know too well is that this tragedy could happen anywhere at any time. …”
Chancellor James Oblinger’s statement couldn’t be truer — the events that unfolded on Virginia Tech’s campus could happen anywhere, including N.C. State.
The news of the appalling killings on the campus of VT has caused everyone associated with the NCSU community to pause with concern. Given the many academic, athletic and personal relationships between the two universities, this tragedy touches the soul of our University even more intensely.
With terms like residence hall, engineering, campus, students, classmates and professors streaming across the airwaves and in news print, the scenario at VT sounds eerily familiar. In the aftermath of the deadly shootings, I can’t help but wonder — how would the NCSU community respond? Would we react any differently?
Although the institutions are rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the similarities between VT and NCSU are striking. Both schools were founded in the late 1800s as land grant institutions. Like NCSU, VT has nationally recognized programs in engineering, agriculture, technology and veterinary sciences. Both are their state’s largest universities with almost 30,000 students each. As “peer institutions,” administrators and faculty at each school are constantly comparing themselves with other.
NCSU too has faced gun killings, but definitely not on the same scale and magnitude as VT. As an undergraduate, I remember a student being fatally shot in an off-campus apartment in the Brent Road area. The victim was apparently firing across the road into a crowded house party when a group of students from the party confronted him. After a struggle the gun went off, killing the student.
In my later undergraduate years, two students were killed on the Carmichael Gymnasium tennis courts in an apparent personal conflict. Once the killer murdered his partner, he turned the gun on himself.
And then of course, there were the tailgate shootings of September 2004. During the Wolfpack’s football season opener, friends Kevin McCann, 23, of Chicago and 2nd Lt. Brett Harmon, 23, of Park Ridge, Ill., died after a confrontation with brothers Timothy and Tony Johnson.
Even after these tragedies and the lessons learned from them, is NCSU prepared for a situation similar to that of VT? Oblinger believes we are taking the appropriate steps — “To our own campus community, let me reassure you that, like other colleges and universities throughout the nation, N.C. State is mindful of the need to continually examine and re-examine our campus safety processes and procedures. We take part in disaster prevention and response drills and other simulations designed to help us improve our safety measures. And we routinely offer safety education. Safety is a shared responsibility, and I encourage you to be vigilant, to be mindful of good safety practices and to let campus police know of any suspicious activity.”
But are we prepared? Campus Police is vigilant about sending out crime alerts, yet the mass e-mails lack identifying information about the suspected subject. The alerts do not provide racial descriptions.
Campus Police Chief Tom Younce recently wrote in the Bulletin, NCSU’s faculty and staff newspaper, “that identifying a suspect by race would be of no value to the community in helping to identify the suspects … When a crime alert is sent to 35,000-plus people, references to one race or another can adversely influence people’s self-awareness, perceptions and attitudes, and may contribute unnecessarily to negative stereotypes.”
In light of the VT massacre and the knowledge that their e-mail alerts possibly failed, perhaps NCSU’s practices warrant further review. Next week, I will explore this issue and discuss further what NCSU and other campuses can do to help prevent similar occurrences.
E-mail Andrew your suggestions at [email protected].
