This nation and the world surely do not need yet another meathead flapping his jaw or wagging his pen about the tragic events that happened at Virginia Tech on Monday. I’m entirely ashamed that I’m adding to this possible overexposure, but the only comfort that I have is that my own take on it is not one of derision or criticism. In fact I cannot commend the administration of VT enough.
My entire working career post-baccalaureate has been in the field of higher education, and while a meager five years an expert does not one make, I like to think that I have a fair grasp on University life. Working in higher-ed admin is much like what I assume working in the government is like: life is slow, the perks are good and generally it takes far too much to get a normal amount of work accomplished because of the lack of resources, be they monetary or financial. I’ve worked at both a small liberal arts university as well as a large state institution, and knowing that VT has 25,000+ students to account for (with 15,000 residents) blows my mind.
From out of the woodworks of any tragedy come the trolls, the armchair critics and the self-proclaimed pundits. Those who aren’t mourning are pointing fingers or boasting about how they would have handled things more competently had they only been put in charge. The talking heads spin it towards political agendas. Whatever the crisis, regardless of the tragedy, people bypass the true crime that is loss of life and instead move towards the irresistible lure of blame.
I suppose in such an unexpected, inconceivable event (Columbine, 9/11, etc in recent collective memory), people extend their anger and their aching for answers and move to blame as a method of coping. With the Villain unable to be presented to a high court, we look for institutions of power that could have failed us…the police, the medics, the government, the school. Something to pin our grief and our pain on, something real, something alive and accountable.
But what dismays me to no end about this situation is how much backlash the VT administration is receiving. Claims of a lazy response time (1h 45m?) and refusal to close campus after the 7:15 am homicide incident have clogged internet, mere hours after it happened. I know nothing except that from what VT has published on their own site.
Their time line reveals that the administration did respond. They locked down a dorm, surrounded it with security, notified residents and interviewed witnesses. They followed a strong lead and went off-campus to detain a suspect. They had no reason to believe the shooter was still on premises [1]. Hell, 8:30 am is when administration are expected to arrive at work, yet the council was already meeting due to the emergency. Even if the president, provost and other key members were called by 7:30 am, most likely would still be preparing for work or on their commute. And still the desk thumping and name calling continues.
From my limited and humble vantage point, the University’s communication system worked. Students have been interviewed on nationally syndicated news networks claiming that they did not go to class because of what was posted on VT’s homepage. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and dodgeball were all used to put information out there, which does not indicate a lack of initiate on VT’s part but rather shows that students use means that they are most comfortable with. This all happened within minutes. Since the tragedy, the VT administration has been a source for news media, not simply a sheepish and bewildered respondent. They confidently post information that frankly, I’m not sure either of my own universities would have done. Unlike theirs, I wonder if our servers would have buckled under the immense traffic. Until this happened, we had no emergency lo-fi version of the homepage (image-free to reduce server load). We’re lucky we get to finish projects that have been in planning for over a year, let alone respond both professionally and expediently to something that happened less than two hours ago.
Even now, with the eyes of the world upon them, they have a custom-skinned memorial homepage (again, decidedly lightweight for bandwidth) that is respectful and informative. And it was posted before the second day even came to a close. A four-person web shop, likely working long hours.
So while it might seem odd to commend the University for their web site and their communication, I feel like it should be done. I think the administration responded as swiftly and decidedly as any other administration could have (and likely much better, in fact). And further still, their marketing/web office continues to be a source of information to all watching and seeking. Other universities can only hope to rise so confidently to such an occasion.
Of course, as trite as it sounds, my thoughts and prayers are with all touched by the tragedy, as well as all the rest who seem to want to take this event and twist it for their own personal gain, be that intellectual, political, monetary or otherwise. Let the families and friends heal, and we’ll go about our days thankful that it wasn’t us who was asked to make such swift, monumental decisions.
