As most Virginia Tech students returned to classes Monday, thetone of grief and sorrow was replaced with one of healing. Students are starting to rebuild their shattered sense of safety and return once again to being college students. Still, the reaction to the incident at the University's Wilsdorf Hall Monday night, which turned out to be a criminally stupid school project gone awry, showed that some wounds remain sensitive. The lead editorial immediately following last week's tragic shootings at Tech asked this question: Where do we go from here? It asked this knowing the answer would come not from eulogies or a well-worded public statement. So today -- more than one week later -- we ask a different question, one that allows us to reflect on the positive: What have we learned?
From a practical standpoint, the incident at Wilsdorf Hall displayed the capability of local police to deal with potential problems quickly and effectively. When rumors of a student with a gun began to remind students of the unthinkable horrors of last week, police helped to assuage fears and assure students that they were safe. But it seems the administration did not. While it is their job to protect the physical wellbeing of students, administrators should also communicate with students to quell immediate fears and potential misunderstandings after the fact. Now, more than 24 hours after the incident, the student body still awaits any message from administrators explaining what happened. Even if the administration hasn't learned the importance of communication in times of crisis, students have shown their ability to respond immediately to crises.
Within seven hours of the shootings at Tech, fourth-year student Raleigh Anne Blank and others formed Hoos for Hokies, the organization leading the effort to coordinate aid to Blacksburg and the families of victims. Their work over the past week should silence any cynics who doubted the capability of student leaders to accomplish great things. Hoos for Hokies delivered 30,000 candles to Blacksburg for the vigil, worked in conjunction with Student Council to organize our own vigil and raised more than $20,000.
Asked how far we've come since the shooting, Blank said, "It's too early to tell, but from what I've seen, the University has done everything to support those who need it. This has been an amazing experience to see students working together to do something great."
Through fundraising, letter writing campaigns, memorialsin honor of lost students, t-shirts proudly declaring solidarity with Tech, black ribbons adorning Facebook profiles and the innumerable personal gestures of kindness and compassion, this University has changed for the better. As we rush into final exams and eventually summer break, it might be worth pausing to appreciate the irony that some of the most inspiring gestures of humanity and kindness come during our darkest hours. In many ways this past week was a test of our vigilance and our ability to triumph amidst great pain and suffering. As this school year comes to an end, and we begin to wonder what we've learned, students should be proud to have witnessed such strength in our collective moment of weakness.
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