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College Students Are NOT Children

I have remained silent here about the killings at Virginia Tech, but I need to speak about several issues that have arisen from this horrible event:

1. Obviously, the deaths of the 33 individuals is horrific and extremely tragic. My sympathies go to all the dead and their loved ones.

2. I am extremely dismayed and disgusted by the vilification of Seung-Hui Cho. He, of course is the killer and instigator of this horrid tragedy... and family and friends of the victims would understandably vilify Cho. But, it is NOT APPROPRIATE for society at large to be acting so obnoxious about Cho. Instead, society should be able to view Cho's actions more clinically... see Cho as a tragic person with a severe illness and/or disturbed past that acted out violently. To call Cho and his family names, or to belittle him with rude commentary relating to his writings, pictures or videos is galling in my opinion. Those writings, pictures, and videos are IMPORTANT documents that should be studied by psychologists to help us gain a greater understanding into what influenced Cho to act as he did. Some of the news commentators and political pundits have made me sick with their behavior in this matter.

3. I am very appalled by the numerous news people and political people who keep calling the students at Virginia Tech "CHILDREN" and have story upon story about how "adults" are calling for stricter measures and even LOCK-DOWNS to keep our "kids" safe. What in the hell are these people thinking? COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE ADULTS... college campuses ARE NOT like high schools or any aspect of the K-12 community. The college or university is a COMMUNITY space... where all people in a community can come together whether young or old to foster intellectual pursuit. THEY ARE NOT CHILDREN, THEY ARE ADULTS.

4. The idea of making a college campus like a grade school or high school and not allowing anyone but a select few on it would be akin to having a city be shut down by martial law because of a shooting spree. It is NOT APPROPRIATE. In a city near where I live, the population is roughly 55,000. There are murders that happen perhaps once or twice a week. Should this city be shut down and people be in lock down every few days because of a murder? It is insane to think about that for the city... and in the same way it is insane to think about that for a college or university. In the Virginia Tech incident, closing the school for a week to clear matters made perfect sense, but the severe criticism of the administration because they did not shut the campus down after the first two shootings is LUDICROUS!!!!! To shut down the 25,000 student campus after a pair is murdered IS JUST LIKE shutting down an entire city after a murder... it is FOOLISH AND INAPPROPRIATE.

Enough on this topic for now.

PipeTobacco