Virg.Tech Student to School Newspaper:We've Spent 10.4 Million on Security.For What?

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Letter: Tech's new security policies worth investigating

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stor...h_s_new_security_policies_worth_investigating

Letter to the editorFriday, March 28; 12:00 AM
So far Virginia Tech has spent $10.4 million in security revisions.
These include, but are not limited to, the alert system which I, and many others I know, did not get on Tuesday's test, installing doors that cannot be chained shut, locking down the dorms even though they were locked when the incident took place last year, and adding 10 more officers to the Virginia Tech police, making the student to officer ratio 500:1 if all are on duty at once.

Last week as I heard the lists of defenses put in place and the manner of how a door locks, I recalled my World War II history.

In France there was the Maginot Line, a series of pillboxes and artillery placements connected by tunnel that ran the length of the border between Germany and France.

A defense so feared that the Germans simply went through the Arden forest in Belgium, going around the line and capturing Paris.

In some ways I wonder if we are creating our own Maginot line, building a set of defenses we feel is so strong that they will ward off any attacker.

The point I'm trying to make is that a lot of the new systems in place, which are all very good ideas, will act in the end act as only a buffer.

It's like those security blankets we had as kids, it wouldn't do anything to stop that monster in the closet, but we felt safe when it was around. And in my opinion, thinking we are safe when we actually are not is more dangerous than not being safe.

What happened here on April 16 I hope will never happen here again, but already we have seen "copy cat" events at Northern Illinois University.

Even in the last week we have seen an escalation in violence in Blacksburg between the three assaults and a robbery.

By no means do I mean any disrespect to the administration or police department. I am just trying to put things in the proper light.

All too often people rapidly dismiss the idea of concealed carry, on the grounds of "they wouldn't feel safe." We need to start thinking with logic rather than emotion.

I just ask that people consider it opposed to just dismissing it as a bunch of Second Amendment screaming gun nuts.

The facts are out there, someone possessing a concealed carry permit is five times less likely to commit a violent crime than someone without one.

Several universities have already adopted concealed carry, and if there was some massive upswing in violence I'm sure we would have found out.

In Florida crime has dropped dramatically since allowing residents to carry a concealed weapon, opposed to D.C., which has one of the highest crime rates and some of the strictest gun laws.

Australia has tripled in homicide rates since the banning of firearms while most states that implement concealed carry have shown a decrease in crime.

You wouldn't think giving you a little bit of the flu would help keep you from getting it full on but that's pretty much what a flu vaccine is, similar train of logic.

Take a few minutes to look up the facts online from creditable sources and see for yourself.

John Havranek
junior, aerospace engineering


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Posted by: Gene German at 10:35 am
Is it safe to assume the $10.4 M does not include the costs to defend VT and pay damages to the victims and their families? We may never know how many students decided to enroll in another college elsewhere. My point is the total cost to VT for this incident is much larger than a few million for security blankets. We know an armed citizen will not prevent future attacks or prevent some deaths. However, an armed citizen can significantly reduce the total body count. Often, these madmen plan to die before they are finished and the sooner that happens the better.
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Posted by: Crickets... at Mar 28
John, it seems no one can argue your points! Not surprised, $10.4M later and what has changed? The next time the ***** hits the fan, it'll be interesting to see what we've achieved with all this. Probably have to buck up another $10M for more worthless stuff. What does concealed carry cost? Oh, nothing! But VT continues to fail to learn the lesson...
 
I think you forgot to include the amount that VT offered the family of each victim. I believe that this was between $80-100k per victim. That would be the absolute minimum, and would add another $3.2M if it were accepted by all.

What makes me think that many will buck for higher awards?
 
The enlightened administration at Virginia Tech awarded every dead student victim a posthumous degree, although they had not completed the requirements. Their murderer was not awarded his degree.

Surely that matters to someone. But that degree will not help any of the dead students get a good job or admission to graduate study. Those students are dead forever and have no need of their posthumously-awarded degrees. They cannot even feel educated after having been told they should feel safe on campus because it was a Gun Free Zone.

But still the Virginia legislature allows such institutions to deny those with Concealed Carry Permits the means to defend their lives as soon as they set foot on campus.

And still the people of Virginia enthusiastically support those college administrations and those legislators, while they fear the people who do no harm to others.

Such institutions of higher learning should consider offering courses in Hypocrisy, a subject in which they and the legislators who support them are expert.
 
Tell it to the ex-President of William & Mary, a state school. He's gone, whining and crying all the way out the door.

"In the ensuing months, his decisions were scrutinized, and opponents were vocal. His call not to ban a sex-workers art show on campus, which he said was based on his belief in freedom of speech, horrified many alumni."

That was just another nail after he ordered the cross removed from the chapel.

John
 
One wonders why a college does not trust its students to be responsible adults, and protect themselves.
 
colleges treat you like the adults you are

Fat chance.
Mine reports your activities to your parents. Even those that are over the age of 18.

Va-Tech and the state of Virginia are going to offer a $100k to each victim of the tragedy their policies created by their cowardice. What a slap in the face to the victims and their current students.
 
$10.4 Million dollars.........and none of it will do a bit of good. Plus another $3.2 Million to make people feel better.

And concealed carry wouldn't cost them a cent.

I just don't understand how an Institution of Higher Learning can be so........damned stupid.

Papajohn
 
There goes another engineer, thinking logically again. We can't have that.

/Engineer
 
I'll grant you the letter writer could stand a brush up in his rhetoric --but I liked the letter's informal tone.
Analogy is one the worst forms of argument--but reaching back to the Maginot Line as an example of mis-placed defense planning and likening it to what is happening on campus engaged my thinking a bit. Hey, here IL our Gov. Blago is starting a bloated 'fact finding' commision to look into NIU. His best (?!!) and first idea was to start tearing down the building where the murders took place in DeKalb.
 
All too often people rapidly dismiss the idea of concealed carry, on the grounds of "they wouldn't feel safe." We need to start thinking with logic rather than emotion.

wasn't it the spokesman for VT that proudly proclaimed that the no guns on campus rule was a great way to ensure safety... in the fall of 06?
 
Larry Hinckler,V.P. of University Relations said this in 2006:

Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations, in response to a column I wrote in August asking that the university change its policy forbidding law-abiding concealed handgun permit (CHP) holders from carrying on campus, wrote the following in The Roanoke Times: "Guns don't belong in classrooms. They never will. Virginia Tech has a very sound policy preventing same."

Do you still feel the same way about your policy now, Mr. Hincker? Will your faith in that policy provide comfort to any of the victims' families?

The above is quoted by graduate student Bradford Wiles.Wiles wrote this on April 20,2007, 4 days after the killings.Here is the link:
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-113894
 
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