A Pilgrim’s Digression

There is an interesting article in the Washington Post today titled Hats, Shirts or Jewelry: If it says ‘Hokie,’ it’s flying off the shelf. It’s a brief article, unremarkable except in that it provides strong evidence that a school that has always played second-fiddle to its in-state rival, the University of Virginia, has suddenly been thrust to the forefront of world consciousness.

I had a discussion with someone yesterday about whether the murders would hurt enrollment at Tech. The person I was talking to said that parents would be reluctant to send their kids to such a notorious school. I disagreed. I argued that for one thing, parents may have no choice if Tech is where their child wants to go.

And I definitely think that far from harming the school’s image in the minds of young adults, a young person looking for a college is far more likely to think, “I’d be proud to attend such a school” than “I would be afraid to go there.” One thing that I think comes through very clearly is the pride and devotion Tech students take in their school. In Virginia, whether you go to UVA or Tech, students easily become attached and devoted to their school.

Additionally, Tech is a beautiful campus. No one has any doubt of that, having seen images of its stone buildings and green swards.

Also, we now know that Nikki Giovanni teaches poetry at Tech. I have lived in Virginia for years now, and I did not know that. As a former English major myself, I can say with some certainty that having a distinguished poet on the faculty would definitely attract me to a school.

But perhaps its primary attraction ought to be this little known factoid: Virginia Tech is a heavily Mac-dominated school. I still remember how it felt to walk into the school library and see table upon table of glowing, white Macs. I was reminded of that famous poem by William Wadsworth Shortfellow: “My heart leaps up when I behold / A row of gleaming iMacs.” Previously, I knew Tech best as the school where students and faculty built one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world using Mac g5 computers.

Why would a young person not give this school serious consideration?

My friend argued that the schol had seriously dropped the ball in keeping its student body safe, and that would influence people’s future decision about attending school there. This inaugurated a long discussion about how much responsibility the school bears for Cho’s murderous actions.

I don’t feel the school bears much, if any responsibility. People cannot be punished for what they might do, or for being hateful. Also, it is very difficult in this country to force someone into psychiatric treatment against their will. That is key: people have civil rights, among them a right to privacy. On the most practical level, having an involuntary committal to a mental institution is a serious black mark on your record, and thus any school official would be reluctant to press for such a drastic action, given minimal evidence that the student was a danger.

On the other hand, I do believe that he should have been committed to an institution against his will, but it was not the school’s place to do that. It was his parents’ responsibility. I find it hard to believe that his parents were oblivious to his problems. Most likely, they downplayed them in their own mind, thinking that his problems would resolve of their own accord. Or maybe they did try to get him help, but did not press for tougher action: commitment to a mental health institution. Who can say what was done or not done, let alone what should have been done.

But I think the school, in general, did all that it could do for an adult student who lied and covered up the extent of his mental illness. On WMAL this morning, Andy Parks, a conservative commentator, was arguing that Cho should have been expelled for his harassment of female students, if nothing else. I disagree with that point of view. So you expell him, then he goes out and kills 32 people in a shopping mall. Or returns to the school and kills 32 students any way.

There is an argument to be made that the school could have done more to help Cho, thus preventing these attacks. But really, I don’t think anything short of involuntary commitment (something the school rightly should be powerless to force on a student) would have stopped him. As is revealed in his cruel video message, Cho was lost. He was psychotic, paranoid, and bent on violence. If his parents had seen that sooner and placed him in a secure hospital, only then could the events of 4/16 been averted.

Will students return to Tech in light of this tragedy? I think so, perhaps even in greater numbers. I admit I have favored UVA in the past, but if my son wants to go to Tech, I will happily help him achieve that goal.  I believe others will feel the same.  We have seen what a magnificent school it is; we have heard only good things about the community of Blacksburg.

Perhaps the only black mark, and it is a mark against the state rather than the community or school, is that someone with a poor mental health record can get a gun quite easily in Virginia. That is the only thing that would give me pause. The careless indifference of the gun store owner who sold Cho one of the guns was appalling, and I found it hard to believe that he was actually smiling a little when interviewed by a reporter who asked him about the sale of the weapon.

Other than that, I think Tech is going to rise out of the ashes of this tragedy renewed and reinvigorated. It’s a good school, with a beautiful campus, first-rate faculty, and a proud student body. The two crimes that have been committed there over the course of the past school year have been anomolous, but the school has proven resilient. Far from being “notorious,” I think the school is going to become better known for its strength and its pride.