Little Comfort For Mom In Va. Tech Report
Leslie Sherman, a 20-year-old history major, loved learning about the world. Now she's part of the tragic history of Virginia Tech, and her mother struggles with her loss.
"She was never a disappointment," an emotional Holly Sherman said of her daughter. "She was always, always someone to be proud of."
Victims' family members, including Sherman, were briefed on the report of the Virginia Tech review panel by phone Wednesday night.
Immediately afterward, in an interview with CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras, Sherman didn't mince words on the report's conclusion that lives could have been saved had there been a warning about the first two murders.
"I personally hold the university responsible for failure to act and the decision not to act," she said.In Memoriam: Victim Profiles
Increasingly, colleges are acquiring emergency notification systems that rely on cell phone, e-mail and text message alerts; among them, Loyola Marymount University in California, Princeton University in New Jersey - and, after the shootings, Virginia Tech.
But no high-tech alert system could have warned students about the murderous mind of Seung-Hui Cho. Sherman calls the university's handling of the troubled student negligent.
"This wasn't just a one-day deal," Sherman said. "It was three years they had an opportunity to do something to prevent what happened on April 16."
Today she has another focus: Lisa, another daughter now at Virginia Tech who was to room with her older sister, Leslie.
Instead, Lisa joined other students at the recent memorial service that opened the new school year.
Holly Sherman who would rather keep her daughter at home.
"I would be most comfortable if she was wrapped in my cocoon," she said.
She has little faith that Virginia Tech - or any other school - can keep this child safe.