The Observer, April 20, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 25
Students should question causes of tragedy
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
With the terrible happenings at Virginia Tech, I was struck by Case's own litany of e-mails choosing to defend the strength of our own physical security rather than reflect on the gravity of the situation and our own recent, tragic history in this area. I was a graduate student in May 2003 during the Peter B. Lewis (PBL) shootings and can say with candor that I have personally seen little visible change since then. I have taught in PBL and have entered through the side door without any ID or security guard whatsoever. And when I flash my ID at the front door, I am almost always the only one.
Most importantly, I, as a teacher, have never received any kind of training as what to do in this kind of emergency. Have you? I trust our safety and security department, but the PBL incident seems to have disappeared. Instead of bold, optimistic rhetoric about security "strength," I wish Case would offer opportunities for our students to talk about and reflect on these tragedies, instead of covering them with white paint. In its seemingly endless quest to reinvent itself, Case again seems okay about ignoring part of its history. But history will always be what separates us from a school like Virginia Tech – if you know a Hokie, you know they remember the losses, just as much as the wins.
The two unfortunate certainties driven home by these events are that school is not a completely safe environment (it absolutely isn't – never walk alone at night) and that there will never be a good enough answer as to why these sad things happen. That doesn't mean we can't work to change both of these facts, but if we're a university, a place of truth, we must recognize them together as just that: facts. Overly-enthusiastic PR is like an overly-optimistic hypothesis – you may be tempted to fudge the results. That's not what we do.
I know our students and they are strong, smart, and impressive – give us some facts and we can find some answers, even if the questions are terrible ones. With our brains, hands, roommates, lab partners, teachers, deans, presidents, and everybody else in between, we can get some answers. That's our strength.
Brad Ricca
Lecturer, English
