A Month of Violence

On the Predictability of Virginia Tech

I am struck by the awesome change in the landscape of higher education since the shootings at Virginia Tech. Not because of the fact that so many were killed in such a horrific manner – that number of people dying at any one time always warrants significant analysis, like in a plane crash, hurricane (i.e., Katrina), etc., and it should. What struck me then, and continues to strike me, is how it was (and continues to be) treated like such an anomaly.

Let me preface this by stating that I mean no disrespect to the victims, the families of the victims, the members of the community, or the staff and faculty at Virginia Tech. My shock is aimed at all of us in higher education, that we ignored the signs for as long as we did, and continued doing our work, “business as usual” in the face of such overwhelming data.

Allow me to explain. I was giving a presentation when a colleague referred to the murders (I also don’t like referring to it as a “tragedy,” I think that term misrepresents the horrific nature of the intent of the act) at Virginia Tech as “the 9/11 for Higher Education.” I have thought about that for a while, and I think he is almost right. It is the 9/11 for education, not just higher education.

(NOTE: I will acknowledge now the dissent that some may take with the political assertations and analogies I am going to make, but bear with me – we can argue about it later.)

Much like 9/11, there were multiple warning signs prior to Virginia Tech that – like 9/11 – were ignored in their increasing dynamic. The 1st bombing of the WTC, the bombing of the US Embassies and the USS Cole are analogous with the shootings at Paducah, Jonesboro, and Columbine.

The journal articles by K-12 teachers about increasing violence by and violent reaction of students, the crime statistics, and the anecdotal stories they were sharing – that higher education administrators and faculty ignored – are analogous to the memos (“Bin Laden determined to attack in US” and the memo outlining the threat of a repeat attack on the WTC come to mind) ignored by the Bush Administration in the year and a half prior to 9/11.

And now, sadly, the rush to implement response measures and the arguable overspending on them – text messaging systems, loudspeaker systems, security cameras to name a few – in lieu of equal spending on effective preventive measures – like well trained behavioral intervention teams at the college and K-12 level – are analogous to the monies spent on the initial response to 9/11 – the invasion of Iraq – which we now know had nothing to do with 9/11, and which has arguably not resolved the problems that led to 9/11.

Let’s hope that we are wiser in the future in both the observation of warning signs and the focus on actions that make us safer in the long run – preventive measures. Let’s hope our government does the same.

Have a great weekend,

Scott