"The first email came at 9:30 am, and I was just headed for the campus then. I wasn't worried as I left for work that morning even though I had seen the first email, because at the beginning of the Fall '06 semester, classes were cut short on the first day when an escaped fugitive was supposed to be seen on campus.
Messages from the Virginia killer
"Also, for the past two weeks we have had bomb threats on campus. So this had not initially seemed like a big deal. Then... the emails starting pouring in from around 10:24 am. By 11 am we had been given evacuation instructions," Harsha Karur Rajasimha, research employee and part-time PhD student at Virginia Tech, takes a minute as he reconstructs the exact events of April 16, 2007 on the Virginia Tech campus.
"It still has not sunk in. The rest of the world may have read it as one big story, maybe even as a developing story -- but for people like me who were on campus and watching all those emails pouring in, we were just trying to sift through the confusion. It was much later that I realised this was one of the worst shootings in US history," says Harsha.
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Rajat Sud, who graduated from Virginia Tech with a Masters in Computer Science in 2003 and currently works in the Washington DC area, says he is still shocked that something like this could have happened on his beloved campus.
A thought echoed by Vivek Dutta, a recent graduate from the Masters in Industrial Engineering program at Virginia Tech. "I am horrified and cannot put my feelings into words. Worse still on that day were the parents of international students who tried desperately to get through to their children. This was like their worst nightmare come true."
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The incident was a big cause for concern even among parents of students currently in India who are either considering Virignia Tech or have already been accepted by the University. Usha Pattabhiraman of Malad -- Mumbai, whose son recently got accepted into the Computer Science program at Virginia Tech is having second thoughts about the safety on the campus especially because Virginia Tech is one of her son's top choices.
However, her husband hopes that this incident leads to something better, "After such an incident, professors and the University in general will pay greater attention to students' on-campus security, at least that is what we hope for," he says.
Rajat Sud said, "Safety has never been a concern on my campus. I have walked home alone at 4 am without a worry. I don't think that one incident, as shocking as it may be, should tarnish the reputation of such a campus and I only hope parents in India keep a more open mind about this and try to understand that this was a one-off incident."
Shailee Vimadalal of New Jersey has two cousins who graduated from Virginia Tech. She herself graduated from University of Southern California in 2006. "While the areas around USC are considered unsafe, the campus has taken several measures to ensure the safety of students.
We were cautious because we always expected the worst and took precautions since it was highly unsafe outside USC in general. But something like what happened at Virginia Tech, that too on campus, is unbelievable, unexpected, and upsets the peace of an otherwise safe campus."
Sandeep Waghchoure, who is currently doing a part-time MBA at the McCombs School of Business in the University of Texas, Austin, remembers researching another similar disturbing campus incident, which had taken place in 1966 on his campus. "Charles Whitman, a student in 1966 had climbed the UT Tower and gone on a shooting spree as people had rushed into hiding... This incident is eerily reminiscent of that UT incident."
Concerns about campus and school safety in the US also stem from loose laws that govern the sale of arms. "I am strongly against the open sale of fire arms in the US. Arms are for safety and only skilled and licensed professionals should be able to carry them. You should have a very good reason, approved by some higher governing body, to carry a firearm. That being said, I think that in general the campuses here are pretty safe.
"There is only so much security can do. Incidents like this one are more a matter of noticing warning signs in people's behavior and taking corrective action, rather than beefing up security," says Shailee.
In addition to concerns of campus safety, listeners were also recently treated to callers of a radio program blaming the incident on immigration and how something needed to be done to stop immigrants. This has lead to fears of a ripple effect where certain communities might be targeted, especially on campuses.
Harsha hopes that after the initial shock wears off, there is no unnecessary backlash against the Korean population on campus. "I've been hearing that a lot of parents in Korea are worried and have been trying to convince their children to come away on a break or something. It is natural to expect such a reaction and I only hope that peace reigns on this campus going forward."
As I read through various news websites and speak to Hokies about this incident, I couldn't but help think back to Fall '01 when I had been a student in the US during 9/11. All associations on my school campus had come together to make sure the message of tolerance was spread after the 9/11 attacks. Says Archana Ramaswamy, then President of the International Students Association at Texas A&M University, who had lead a peace march and spoken to thousands of students post 9/11, "Like everyone around the nation, I was utterly shocked that one individual could cause so much pain and trauma to a community.
The news is hard to digest for all, as it makes you wonder whether you and your community are really safe.
"I think it's very important for the University to send a message to its students that the actions of one person should not be distorted or generalised to conclude on a community as a whole. What happened is an utter tragedy, but the Asian and more specifically, the South Korean community, should not be targeted as a result. Because of the horrendous actions of one individual, other Asians of his background should not have to suffer.
"Like the tragedy of 9/11 did for the American and even global community, this incident will bring the Virginia Tech community closer. At this time, it is important for all students to see beyond gender, race, color, or creed and remember that this tragedy should unite them as citizens of the World, rather than divide them by ethnicity. It is important for the leaders on the campus to make an effort to spread this message to the rest of their peers," she sums it up.
