I don't trust this guy... (VT Pres)

[ecstatic]

Why isn't he choked up?

Why is there a smirk on his face?

Why is he trying to desperately to cover his ass when he knows VT security F*CKED UP royally?

[medeak]

1. I don't judge people's reactions in tragedies

worked in ER for years and everyone has different coping mechanisms..yes some seem inapropriate at the time...but don't mean anything.

[FloridaJudy]

17. Good point.

My sister and I broke into hysterical laughter just after my mother's death, and we loved her dearly. Don't judge the guy right now. He's probably still in shock, and would you want to be in his place?

[liberalnurse]

2. I'm with you there!

He repeats in an "orgasmic fashion", how he has been talking to the president....Additionally, he is covering up that the 1st shooting, the 7:15 AM Dorm site, it was NOT secure ....They did not have the shooter from that scene in custody as evidence that the lone gunman was at Norris Hall 2 hours later.

They dropped the ball trying to contain the rhetoric instead of hunting for the escaped gunman who was on the loose. They were looking for maybe a 2nd shooter but indeed shocked when Norris Hall became the target.

[jannyk]

3. I'm listening to the Presser now...what a fuck up!

The Pres is a smarmy bastard - the smirk seems to be an 'embarrassed' reaction, but it's sure making him look like a prick.
The lead cop ain't sounding too bright either.

If they had that building surrounded - how the fuck did the killer get out and into the other building which was a very long way off? And why were the other buildings not locked down as soon as the first incident occured? There was a 2 hour time lag for god's sake!

[liberalnurse]

12. You indeed have insight into

the GAP! I'm sensing they were containing the story much more than searching for a gunman....or they had someone in custody, but the wrong person. The victims from the Dorm were alive.... so did they share any details? I would like to know. How do you hold someone from a shooting without a weapon in evidence and not search like hell for that weapon or accomplice??

[kaygore]

4. I have nephews at VT and I disagree with you

Who could have anticipated this? I am sure that the president of VT is VERY upset but what good would it do for him to stand up there and cry? I also do not think that he is smirking.

I know how large that campus is and having taught at Arizona State, I know how difficult it is to "lock down" a campus and notify students to turn around when they are en route to class.

I understand that the natural reaction is to ask how this tragedy could have been prevented and to look to place blame, but just as with the Duke players accused wrongly of rape, I think that it would be best if we with hold judgments until we have more information.

This is a real tragedy, but it could have happened on any campus or any street in the United States because we are an open society.

Let's with hold blame and put our efforts into praying or sending positive thoughts for those students and families affected by this tragedy.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. I'm not ready to hang him out to dry until we have all the facts.

He's suffering as well. This is a tragedy of enormous proportions for this state. Give him a break.

[gravity]

7. I agree

We shouldn't make accusations until we get the facts.

[kestrel91316]

21. Making accusations before all the facts are in is, unfortunately,

commonplace at DU.

[undeterred]

6. I didn't have that reaction to him at all.

Hindsight is 20:20.

Campus Security doesn't deal with stuff like this every day.

If they'd announced a lockdown at 8am how many people would have gotten the word before a 9am class anyway?

[Midlodemocrat]

9. One of my friends has two sons there and the one who lives off campus

didn't know anything about the shooting until about 2PM today. No classes until this afternoon, so he had no reason to be on the computer, etc.

A lockdown of a campus the size of Tech is impossible.

[newsjunki]

25. re

Why would a lockdown be impossible when they were able to do it the first day of school?

[Midlodemocrat]

28. What are you talking about?

[malaise]

8. That poor man is thinking about

the law suits that are coming. I feel for him because it is his security that created this mess.

[Midlodemocrat]

11. No. It's the shooter that created this mess.

[malaise]

19. True but the mess start early enough for him

to shut down the campus.

[Lex]

10. I'm sure the guy is in shock and disbelief

and it all doesn't even seem real at this point.

Yeah, and he's probably scared there's something else they could've done. But at this point what are you going to do.

[EFerrari]

26. I can't even imagine what that would be like.

This man's life has also just been changed forever. :(

[TahitiNut]

13. I disagree. As a manager and soldier, I became CALMER during a crisis.

The more that others are running around screaming, the calmer I get. I learned this long ago and it was a very, very useful trait in Viet Nam. My grandmother was an LPN and demonstrated this calmness whenever I bled and my mother panicked. Show me the person who gets calmer and more focused and I'll show you the person best able to handle a crisis.

I've also seen people attack others in such time for not showing the "appropriate" degree of hysteria. The best that can be done with such people is remove them from the premises immediately, imho. I personally regard that as pathological.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. ...

Not all people respond to tragedy in the same manner. The other "truth" of the matter, is that as an official for the university, he is expected to remain calm and collected in order to relay information, not only to the public, but to his staff and students.

I didn't see a smirk.

I think his first priority is getting correct information to the public, while trying not to create more of a panic.

[minkyboodle]

15. I don't know about that guy personally

I do know that that news conference cemented for me the idea
that at least some of this is a royal fuck up and a stupid
decision by the police not lock the rest of the campus down.
The idea that they knew a shooter was on the loose yet
believed he had left campus so decided to not expand the
lock down is ridiculous. The ABC local here in the DC Metro
area just had an interview with a Tech student shuttle driver.
She brought two more groups of kids onto campus after 7:30.
She was racked with guilt and anger, still hasn't confirmed
that 3 of the kids she dropped off are alive. Her point
was that if a lock down had been pursued at least she wouldn't
have brought students and dropped them off in a dangerous
zone. She really made a powerful point on what is just
an awful awful day.

[tomreedtoon]

16. Standard operating procedure for school administrators.

They are all basically phonies, relying on intimidation and degrees to retain power. But they generally can't think their way out of a paper bag.

Even Wal-Mart has emergency plans on flip charts on their office wall, and some minimal emergency procedures instruction as part of their orientation. But that's way too complicated for American educators to even contemplate.

Ah, well, time for them to form a study group to figure out what to do. Get the coffee ready; the administrators aren't smart enough to make it themselves.

[kestrel91316]

22. I gather you could have prevented the entire thing?

Why, pray tell, don't you show them all a thing or two and get yourself installed as the NEXT VT president? I'm sure you'd be a shoo-in
with your infinitely superior foresight and intelligence and ethics.

[donco6]

27. I'm a school administrator.

We have those emergency plan books you're referring to. Would you like me to send you one?

And I make my own coffee every day.

[tomreedtoon]

30. I'd rather you send the book to that school.

And you could probably get the dean job at that school as well...that is, if you insist on staying in the criminal and abusive enterprise of American Educator. (And that is NOT sarcasm. I've seen the education system up close; drug dealers have higher morality.)

[donco6]

31. "Criminal." " Abusive."

And "drug dealers have higher morality." Great.

Nah, I think I'll stay put and do what I do every day. The other day we went with the kids on their Sr. Trip to Washington D.C. Went to the Holocaust Museum and heard a speaker there who made most of us cry. Went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum the next day and heard ANOTHER speaker talk about Kennedy and the politics behind the trip to the Moon. Fascinating.

This week we're having our music festival at the high school. About 500 6th through 8th graders performing in orchestra, choir and band. They're doing show tunes, obviously my favorite. Should be a lot of fun.

Wish you could come.

[Marie26]

18. Me either

It was CYA all the way. Especially that part about how they couldn't confirm that the two shootings were related, they thought it was just a "domestic dispute", they thought the shooter had left the state. What he's really saying is that VT administrators didn't react quickly enough to protect students because they minimized the violence as a "domestic disturbance."

[leftchick]

20. why does he keep talking about bush and laura?

the guy is seriously whacked.

[CurtEastPoint]

23. Could it be because he contributed to Sen. Macaca's campaign?

Steger, Charles
10/18/2006 $1,000.00
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Virginia Tech University/President
ALLEN VICTORY COMMITTEE

[leftchick]

24. I am sure he helped out the chimp too

another repuke in a position he is not qualified for.

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Oh, fer fuck's sake.

:eyes:

Yeah, EVERYTHING is politically motivated.