Classes Resume At Virginia Tech

Memorials Held On Campus As Community Tries To Return To Normal

(CBS/AP)  Chemistry professor Joe Merola tried to give a lecture Monday, but looking out at 100 Virginia Tech students' faces — and the sweat shirt he'd placed on the seat of a slain student — he couldn't do it.

"I lost it halfway through class," he said. "I burst into tears and had to turn it over to the counselors."

Students and staff paused twice Monday, at the moments when a week earlier gunman Seung-Hui Cho opened fire in two campus buildings, killing 32 people and himself.

At a campus memorial, a student left a note to the gunman, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. It reads: "Cho … You have greatly underestimated our strength."

Students returned to class for the first time since the shootings to seek solace in what used to be routine.

They found little as they had left it.

Talking about the tragedy took precedence over classwork, with some 200 volunteer counselors on campus sporting purple armbands, and a counselor in every class where a slain or injured student had been enrolled. Students and professors shared personal stories.

"We kind of talked and hugged. There were tears and stuff," said Paul Deyerle, 20, a sophomore from Roanoke, Va., who attended three classes. "It was good closure."

Deyerle, who was close friends with one of the slain students, said he took comfort in the fact that one of his teachers, a graduate student, kept choking up during class.

"Ordinarily, professors are so stoic," he said. "It was nice to see someone sharing what I was feeling."

Monday was the first time since the shootings that Andrea Falletti had been near the memorial to the victims in front of Burruss Hall, where became a triage center for those shot at nearby Norris Hall. Faint, brownish bloodstains still marred the sidewalk.

"Every day, you wake up and you don't know what you should do. Everyone's like, 'Should we do something? Should we try to have fun?"' said Falletti, a 21-year-old senior. "You almost feel guilty smiling in Blacksburg."

Emotions spanned the spectrum of solemnity.

"We are seeing the resolute, the angry, the confused, and the numb," said Ed Spencer, the associate vice president of student affairs.

As many as 90 percent of Virginia Tech students returned to campus, and school officials said class attendance Monday hovered around 75 percent. Many said the only way to cope was to get back to school.

"You could choose to either be sad, or cheer up a little and continue the regular routine," said student Juan Carlos Ugarte, 22. "Right now, I think all of us need to cheer up."

The day began in silence, a trickle of students emerging slowly from their dorms and forming a crowd of about 100 to remember the moment Cho began the rampage by killing two students in a dorm.

Afterward, a group of students and campus ministers brought 33 white prayer flags from the dorm to the school's War Memorial Chapel. They placed the flags in front of the campus landmark and adorned them with pastel-colored ribbons as the Beatles' song "The Long and Winding Road" played through loudspeakers.

By 9:45 a.m., a crowd of thousands had gathered on the main campus lawn to mark the time of the second wave of killings, staring toward the heavens as a man in a Virginia Tech cap rang an antique bell 33 times and students and staff released white balloons into the sky for each victim.

"As the balloons drifted skyward, people stood for several minutes, in silence, watching the balloons float off into the distance," reports CBS News correspondent Jim Krasula.

As the balloons drifted out of sight, the only sounds were tearful sniffles and the clicks of cameras.

Then 1,000 balloons in the school colors — maroon and orange — went up. Again, people stood in silence until they disappeared, reluctant to let go of the moment.

After a few chants of "Let's Go, Hokies," they headed off to class, where Provost Mark McNamee saw at least one sign of normalcy: "The same students who sit in the last row are still nodding off in class."

State Police investigators still have not connected Cho to his victims but continued reviewing data, including Cho's computer files, in search of a connection.

Police have pulled from the university computer server all e-mails to and from Cho, as well as e-mails to and from his first victim, Emily Hilscher, according to court documents filed Monday. Police also recovered other e-mail logs and Cho's personal cell phone records.

Two students remained hospitalized, one in stable condition and another in serious condition.

University officials said Monday they have not yet decided on the future of Norris Hall, the classroom and office building where most victims were killed. But it is unlikely that Norris will be used for classes again, McNamee said.

Workers were putting up a chain-link fence around it Monday, and classes that were held there have been relocated.

Students only have two weeks of classes left — this week and then a week of finals. Virginia Tech is allowing students to drop classes without penalty or accept their current grades if they want to spend the rest of the year at home.

The rampage does not appear to be having an impact on prospective students, who must decide by May 1 whether they will enroll this fall. Admission has been offered to 12,848 new students, school spokesman Larry Hincker said. As of Monday, only five had declined to enroll.

[vthurts]

DID VIRGINIA TECH CONDONE STUDENTS HARASSING UNDESIRABLES?
This South Korean student had a mouth deformity which is obvious on the videos. Why didn%u2019t someone from the schools assist this young man in getting speech therapy and referrals to a neurologist, a oral surgeon, etc.
I haven%u2019t seen or heard anything that indicates that the university has disciplined students and/or staff for harassing this young man. It should have been reported especially when it occurred in the classrooms. Was his harassment reported to the dean and/or to the authorities by anyone?
Perhaps he would have reflected badly on the college%u2019s image with him being an English major graduate of Virginia Tech and could not talk. Does this college condone other students humiliating and harassing the undesirables until they drop out. The only problem here is that this student didn%u2019t drop out.
This practice of condoning peers running off undesirable has been used in the work force as well as in schools for years. It has many advantages; however, if it backfires as it did here where the student would not drop out but went on a killing spree. All those that knew about these illegal practice will probably face felony charges.
Every article that I have read about this immigrant%u2019s history (prior to the month of the shootings) in America reflects some type of harassment or civil right violations. The local high school as well as this college needs to be audited by the DOJ.

[ritabelle1]

It sounds like you, SharnCedar, are heading the way of Cho. You seem to have way too much anger in you, and feel that others are to blame for your pain. I have never met any of the victims, but having children of that age makes me feel for what they are feeling, as I know the agony my kids would feel if it happened to them. I know the agony I would feel if it happened to one of my childen. I also feel for the agony of a life that Cho must have led to bring him to that point - and perhaps you for whatever reason brings you to write what you do. What I feel, and many others - It is called empathy - is a human emotion.

[processor2]

You CANNOT stop criminals by disarming potential victims...doesn't work.


For example:


Va. Tech was declared a "gun-free zone", and look what happened.


Also, when my state passed the concealed-carry law, rapes dropped by over 50 percent within the first year. Kind of hard to rape a woman if there's a gun in her purse.

...

[cnjcc]

Isn't it interesting that in the aftermath of the VT tradegy, all the focus has been on the gunman and the gun control issue (worthy as it may be of debate), but little said on the response of the VT administration and Blacksburg police. A gunman came onto the campus and killed two people, and is still on the loose. Until over two hours later, the only response by the people in charge was "there has been a shooting incident, (no mention of where), and it is being investigated". The campus-wide PA system was not utilized; nobody was dispatched to dormitories and classroom buildings with bullhorns to deliver this message, and the university could have been locked down. What were those officials thinking? Where were they and what were they doing for over two hours before all hell broke loose? Maybe years of inbreeding and moonshine have dulled their ability to reason. There are few other credible excuses for their pathetic head-in-the-sand response.

[sharncedar]

But my point is why should they pretend to mourn for people they don't even know, pretend that it is the biggest event in history, cry real tears (as if it was something important to themselves) then two days later decide its time to go back to the merry-go-round, to fuel up on the Starbucks and other stimulant drugs, to start running after those grade-inflation "A" grades like eager squirrels in cages, to give themselves their awards one after the other as if all these little drunken ho's were somehow geniuses or future CEO's.

It's back to the game, back to the phony pursuit of phoniness for the sake of nothing. The fake tears are just another part of a fake life. But real people died, real people were hurt, if these phony students had any class or dignity that would spare us all their fake tears, who needs the sympathy of ambulance-chasers.

There are tears enough to cry for themselves, for their own loss of virginity, their loss of innocence, honesty, their missed opportunities to make this a better world. Plenty for today's college students to cry about, but they are too hyped up on Starbucks to even feel human emotions, hence the fake tears for people they've never met.

[lachelle2]

HELLO. I AM BASED IN DUBAI. ONE OF THE LEADING DAILIES HERE IS GULF NEWS. I READ SOMETHING TODAY THAT MADE ME THINK ABOUT REAL REPORTING -- I HOPE THIS WILL MAKE YOU THINK, TOO...
----
Nationality dictates media coverage
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News

A 23-year-old South Korean resident of the US carefully plans and executes an attack on students and teachers at Virginia Tech leaving 32 dead. A week later, the story still makes newspaper headlines.

Seung-Hui Cho's life history is dissected on Oprah. NBC faithfully airs the killer's prepared multi-media package. American Idol judge Simon Cowell comes under fire for raising his eyebrows following a contestant's expression of sympathy.

Two days after the campus shooting, car bombs took the lives of more than 150 innocents in Baghdad. The media gave this incident slightly more than a passing mention.

Nobody bothered to find out the exact number of dead or their names. A video message from the killers, even if one existed, would never be broadcast. Nobody interviewed their grieving relatives. Nobody stood in respectful silence. And, nobody asks why.

Read the rest here: http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10120316.html

[dlpracer]

tidasmom says:

...Guns should be banned in this country. Only police officers and those who protect the people should be allowed to carry them. Why do you need guns in the first place? Those who fear they lose their business will choose guns over life; never mind children's life.

----------

In the perfect world you have a good point. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and guns in the USA will NEVER be banned...period. Disarming the populace has been the genesis of every government abuse in modern history.

If you think that a gun ban is the solution to all evil, than you forgot about Rwanda in 1994 when 800,000 defenseless people where slaughtered in 90 days, the MAJORITY hacked to death.

Your feelings are warranted, albeit misinformed.

[saint2121]

To SharnCedar,
I strongly disagree with your post. The students at virginia tech did not go there planning on witnessing a massacre of there fellow classmates, but in an attempt to broaden their knowledge. They took their time to mourn and grieve for the victims of that demented killer, but now need to pass their classes and comtinue on with their education. Also, people do not go to college because they are forced, but instead to make a future. This, of course, makes it optional, and if they want to pay for their education then let them do that and leave them alone.

[tidasmom]

For those who say guns don't kill people but people kill people, they need to rethink. If there were no guns; the weapons of choice would be less dangerous. The victims can fight back. Guns should be banned in this country. Only police officers and those who protect the people should be allowed to carry them. Why do you need guns in the first place? Those who fear they lose their business will choose guns over life; never mind children's life.

If it were your own children who were killed by this mad person, would you still vote yes on this gun issue? Do we want another VA Tech massacre or any other places? Gun should be a voting factor this coming election, and we need to cast our votes to ban gun.

I hope that pastors and church members in Blacksburg area, as well as other regions, go over to Virginia Tech and pray for the students and school.

[sevenveils]

guns don't kill people. people kill people.

[processor2]

You cannot stop crime by disarming potential victims...doesn't work


For example:

Va.Tech was declared a "gun-free zone" and look what happened.

...

[sero5]

"The U.S. is too lenient and too generous in allowing too many foreigners into our country and attend our colleges. The U.S. should put a stop to allowing the numerous foreigners in our country."

Posted by carterlpc at 02:54 PM : Apr 23, 2007

I'm tired of those who want to associate one mass murderer with "numerous foreigners in our country".
The massacre was plotted and carried out by one person and one person alone. Nobody else plotted this murder. Race is not an issue in who plots mass murder, it is the demented malice of individuals.

[carterlpc]

VA TEch should close the school for the remainder of this semester and give all students a 3.0 for this semester. How can they continue school and concentrate on final exams, homework or anything at this time.

[carterlpc]

VA Tech, Whomever the college officials were that the complaints were made to at VA Tech about Cho's offenses over the past 4 years, these college officials all should be fired, the President and entire Police force for not doing something about the complaints they received regarding Cho. VA Tech should also pay for all the funerals, and shipment of the victims bodies being returned to their parents. VA Tech is responsible and the parents of Cho for this tragedy. All the states in the entire USA should change the law regarding release of mental information of all students. This information is too valuable for college officials in every state not to have access to for the use of safety at college campuses and places of work for all US citizens. The U.S. is too lenient and too generous in allowing too many foreigners into our country and attend our colleges. The U.S. should put a stop to allowing the numerous foreigners in our country. If that was an African American that did all the things Cho did, the African American would have been dismissed from the college and never allowed to attend again.

[mikealford3]

allgood34, I agree with you. As bad as this event is, life continues for those not killed.

As harsh and sad as it may be, people die everyday. Someone else said, the best way to get back to normal is to get back to normal. True.

Like the movie said, Get busy living or get busy dieing.

[nordeck52]

My political science professor said something like this during class on Wednesday: "The best way for everyone to get back to normal, is to get back to normal."

As for you, SharnCedar, who appointed you to make such claims?

[jfgordon24]

cancel for the rest of the year!? ... thats it? .. i believe they for jst close down VT n move to mexico

[allgood34]

Cancel classes for the rest of the year? Why? It was a tragedy what happened there but the world doesn't stop because of this. Should we stop training our military members because soldiers have fallen? There have been thousands of them who have died. These students (or there parents or the government) have paid good money for their education give them their money worth and teach them the world doesn't stop because of a tragedy. Things happen and people die. While this event was particularly sad life needs to be returned to normal instead of continually grieving over this for weeks on end.

[nolalou]

SharnCedar,

I stongly dissagree that they should cancel all classes for the semester. There are thousands of students who need to continue thier studies, and many who are getting ready to graduate. It's not about money making, it's about peoples futures, and getting back a sense of normalcy.

You have a sick view of this whole sorry incident, accusing people of 'fake tears'. At some point, even while continuing to morn, you have to get on with your life.

[angel235-2009]

to SharnCedar

I really feel strongly that the grief is not fake;
the tears are not fake. And I registered to protest your post.

I do agree that things are rushed toward "recovery."
But I think it is clear that they are genuinely doing the best that they can and, after all it happened to THEM.

There is a clear agenda to your post that does not have anything to do with the killings on that campus. Some of the agenda I actually agree with
but this is not the place nor time to criticize a
wounded and shocked community.

Your criticism further reduces the genuine compassion so needed for them, and for all the rest of us.