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Remember: One year later
Student Government is encouraging students to observe a moment of silence in honor of the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre
Ashley Bennett
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: News
Members of Student Government are encouraging students to participate in a moment of silence at 10:30 a.m. today in light of the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.
The massacre occured April 16, 2007 when a shooter killed 32 people and injured several others on the Virginia Tech campus, before committing suicide. The shooting, which was comprised of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart, marked the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
"Hopefully [students'] professors will be respectful of that and give them 30 seconds, because it's the least we can do," Kim Moser, SG executive secretary and senior in political science and social studies teacher education, Moser said.
Moser said that the moment of silence was organized by Student Body President Bobby Mills and Student Body President-elect Jay Dawkins.
According to Moser, it was important that the University do something in remembrance of the event because it was an incident that "hits close to home".
"Anytime a fellow college student or peer university for us goes through something tragic, I really feel like it's our job, as part of that university family, to take time to not only remember, but also to support them," Moser said.
After the events at Virginia Tech, Moser said one of the main things the University has tried to address is campus safety.
"We've seen the WolfAlert system go into effect with text messaging, and we have sirens on campus now," Moser said. "Campus safety is at the forefront of our administration's thinking."
Ryan McElfresh, junior in electrical engineering, agreed that the University could no.t do much more to prevent an incident like Virginia Tech's from occuring after the texting and alarms systems have been implemented.
"What they have is pretty good about getting the word out to someone," McElfresh said.
On the other hand, when remembering the events that occured at Virginia Tech, Lindsay Hare, freshman in agriculture education, said she still does not feel safe.
"It's scary because you still know something like that can happen," Hare said.
However, Moser is confident the University will continue to discuss campus safety issues.
"That is the first thing they're thinking about, is keeping it safe and giving us the opportunity to have a happy, healthy college experience," Moser said.
The massacre occured April 16, 2007 when a shooter killed 32 people and injured several others on the Virginia Tech campus, before committing suicide. The shooting, which was comprised of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart, marked the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
"Hopefully [students'] professors will be respectful of that and give them 30 seconds, because it's the least we can do," Kim Moser, SG executive secretary and senior in political science and social studies teacher education, Moser said.
Moser said that the moment of silence was organized by Student Body President Bobby Mills and Student Body President-elect Jay Dawkins.
According to Moser, it was important that the University do something in remembrance of the event because it was an incident that "hits close to home".
"Anytime a fellow college student or peer university for us goes through something tragic, I really feel like it's our job, as part of that university family, to take time to not only remember, but also to support them," Moser said.
After the events at Virginia Tech, Moser said one of the main things the University has tried to address is campus safety.
"We've seen the WolfAlert system go into effect with text messaging, and we have sirens on campus now," Moser said. "Campus safety is at the forefront of our administration's thinking."
Ryan McElfresh, junior in electrical engineering, agreed that the University could no.t do much more to prevent an incident like Virginia Tech's from occuring after the texting and alarms systems have been implemented.
"What they have is pretty good about getting the word out to someone," McElfresh said.
On the other hand, when remembering the events that occured at Virginia Tech, Lindsay Hare, freshman in agriculture education, said she still does not feel safe.
"It's scary because you still know something like that can happen," Hare said.
However, Moser is confident the University will continue to discuss campus safety issues.
"That is the first thing they're thinking about, is keeping it safe and giving us the opportunity to have a happy, healthy college experience," Moser said.
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