Apr 2007
THES: Security fears after shootings
30/04/07 09:43 Filed in: Virginia Tech
The Times Higher Education
Supplement
http://www.thes.co.uk/search/story.aspx?story_id=2036340
Security fears after shootings
Tony Tysome
Published: 20 April 2007
The American academic community was in a state of shock this week over the shooting of at least 32 people, including three professors, at Virginia Tech University.
As The Times Higher went to press, fears were growing that the tragic incident could lead to a campus security clampdown with the introduction of restricted areas and airport-style checks and barriers.
One Virginia Tech academic said that his colleagues were reeling from the event.
Stuart Feigenbaum, a hospitality and tourism professor, told The Times Higher: "One of the things that makes this so tragic is that a university is supposed to be an open environment.
"This university has always been very security conscious and has done everything to keep people safe short of having metal detectors everywhere.
We have to ask, should a university become like an airport where people have to go through gates and barriers before they gain access to a class?"
Nicholas Kiersey, an Irish PhD student at the university who knew one of the victims, said: "I have taught students whose parents work for the CIA or hold senior military positions. This will hit policy-making America hard."
The American Council on Education said that campus officials would revisit their own security and emergency preparedness policies.
Universities UK sent a message of condolence to students and staff at Virginia Tech.
Sheffield University confirmed that four of its students on a one-year study abroad programme at the university were safe and well.
http://www.thes.co.uk/search/story.aspx?story_id=2036340
Security fears after shootings
Tony Tysome
Published: 20 April 2007
The American academic community was in a state of shock this week over the shooting of at least 32 people, including three professors, at Virginia Tech University.
As The Times Higher went to press, fears were growing that the tragic incident could lead to a campus security clampdown with the introduction of restricted areas and airport-style checks and barriers.
One Virginia Tech academic said that his colleagues were reeling from the event.
Stuart Feigenbaum, a hospitality and tourism professor, told The Times Higher: "One of the things that makes this so tragic is that a university is supposed to be an open environment.
"This university has always been very security conscious and has done everything to keep people safe short of having metal detectors everywhere.
We have to ask, should a university become like an airport where people have to go through gates and barriers before they gain access to a class?"
Nicholas Kiersey, an Irish PhD student at the university who knew one of the victims, said: "I have taught students whose parents work for the CIA or hold senior military positions. This will hit policy-making America hard."
The American Council on Education said that campus officials would revisit their own security and emergency preparedness policies.
Universities UK sent a message of condolence to students and staff at Virginia Tech.
Sheffield University confirmed that four of its students on a one-year study abroad programme at the university were safe and well.
|
Sunday Business Post: Gun-control debate rages on
22/04/07 16:48 Filed in: Virginia Tech
Thank you to Simon Carswell and
everyone at the Irish Sunday Business Post for publishing
this.
~NiK
-------------------
Gun-control debate rages on
22 April 2007
By Nicholas Kiersey
Six days have passed since the horrific events at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, during which 32 people were shot dead by a lone gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, before he killed himself.
It is hardly enough time for students and staff to begin to reflect upon the scale of the event and how it is already provoking what will probably turn out to be a major round in the US gun-control debate.
Of course, the human dimension to the story is being played out this weekend in the homes of the families and friends of the victims. Memorials are taking place around the state. Funerals are being arranged for tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how soon the police release the bodies.
The university administration wants students back at school for resumption of classes tomorrow. Professors and teaching assistants are being briefed in the coming days. The regular curriculum will be suspended for tomorrow’s classes, in favour of discussions on the events from a variety of perspectives.
Elsewhere, the nation’s media are already turning to eager ‘talking heads’ and pundits for their commentary on the killer, his psychological state and how campuses might better prepare themselves to ward off similar attacks. Conspicuous by its absence in this dialogue, however, is a meaningful engagement by US politicians with the question of gun control.
On the left and right alike, US politicians have long considered the issue of gun control to be very tricky. Analysts have attributed John Kerry’s defeat in the 2000 election to his stance on the banning of assault weapons.
The news networks are affording the pro-gun movement ample space to express its views. The views of Susanna Hupp, herself a survivor of a shoot-out in a Texas cafe in 1991, are not atypical.
As she put it in a debate on CBS last week, the most heinous of all mass killings in the US, like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech, have all taken place in ‘gun-free zones’, places where even basic side arms are banned.
Such views are popular in America and are not uncommon even among students and alumni of Virginia Tech. As one friend of mine, a former tech student currently deployed in Iraq with a private security firm, said a couple of days ago: ‘‘If one of the victims had been carrying [a gun] and had reacted properly, a lot of lives could had been saved.”
Others at Virginia Tech are perplexed by such opinions. The idea that weapons-bearing students might somehow have averted last week’s massacre seems to ignore the likely complexities that such a situation would produce.
How, for example, would students in separate classrooms have been able to distinguish friend from foe? Would such a scenario not make the job of law enforcement officers extremely difficult?
President George W Bush last week asserted his support for the second amendment, the instrument of the US constitution that grants the right to bear arms to all citizens.
The day before his speech at the Virginia Tech memorial convocation, his press secretary, Dana Perino, said: ‘‘The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed.”
However, the second amendment was written when the US nation was still insecure about foreign invasion. Its sole instrumental purpose was to ensure citizens were equipped to form a militia in the absence of a standing army.
Meanwhile, news is breaking about the sheer quantity of ammunition expended by the Virginia Tech killer. Among the inventory he carried on the day were hollow-point shells and ammunition clips capable of holding up to 30 bullets.
Protagonists on both sides of the gun debate in the US tend to stereotype their opponents, yet the pro-gun movement seems incapable of articulating a balanced view on the sorts of weapons required by the average citizen.
The fact remains high-powered guns are too easy to get in Virginia. Second-hand weapons may be purchased with no background check, and there are no state restrictions on the sale of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons, such as the AK47.
As we learned last week, a Virginia judicial officer certified in 2005 that Cho presented ‘‘an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness’’.
As such, Cho probably fell within the category of ‘‘adjudicated as a mental incompetent’’ used in the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968. However, none of this showed up in his background checks on the day he purchased his weapons.
My gun-advocate friends often argue it would be impossible to fully regulate the ownership of guns. Better then to let everyone carry a weapon so that they might defend themselves and thereby create a deterrent.
Yet they ignore the experience of many Europeans, such as myself, who have grown up in countries where gun ownership is regulated quite successfully.
This weekend, most Virginia Tech students will be envious of the sort of peace and security that such regulation can provide.
Nicholas Kiersey, who is from Blessington, Co Wicklow, is a PhD student at Virginia Tech
~NiK
-------------------
Gun-control debate rages on
22 April 2007
By Nicholas Kiersey
Six days have passed since the horrific events at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, during which 32 people were shot dead by a lone gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, before he killed himself.
It is hardly enough time for students and staff to begin to reflect upon the scale of the event and how it is already provoking what will probably turn out to be a major round in the US gun-control debate.
Of course, the human dimension to the story is being played out this weekend in the homes of the families and friends of the victims. Memorials are taking place around the state. Funerals are being arranged for tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how soon the police release the bodies.
The university administration wants students back at school for resumption of classes tomorrow. Professors and teaching assistants are being briefed in the coming days. The regular curriculum will be suspended for tomorrow’s classes, in favour of discussions on the events from a variety of perspectives.
Elsewhere, the nation’s media are already turning to eager ‘talking heads’ and pundits for their commentary on the killer, his psychological state and how campuses might better prepare themselves to ward off similar attacks. Conspicuous by its absence in this dialogue, however, is a meaningful engagement by US politicians with the question of gun control.
On the left and right alike, US politicians have long considered the issue of gun control to be very tricky. Analysts have attributed John Kerry’s defeat in the 2000 election to his stance on the banning of assault weapons.
The news networks are affording the pro-gun movement ample space to express its views. The views of Susanna Hupp, herself a survivor of a shoot-out in a Texas cafe in 1991, are not atypical.
As she put it in a debate on CBS last week, the most heinous of all mass killings in the US, like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech, have all taken place in ‘gun-free zones’, places where even basic side arms are banned.
Such views are popular in America and are not uncommon even among students and alumni of Virginia Tech. As one friend of mine, a former tech student currently deployed in Iraq with a private security firm, said a couple of days ago: ‘‘If one of the victims had been carrying [a gun] and had reacted properly, a lot of lives could had been saved.”
Others at Virginia Tech are perplexed by such opinions. The idea that weapons-bearing students might somehow have averted last week’s massacre seems to ignore the likely complexities that such a situation would produce.
How, for example, would students in separate classrooms have been able to distinguish friend from foe? Would such a scenario not make the job of law enforcement officers extremely difficult?
President George W Bush last week asserted his support for the second amendment, the instrument of the US constitution that grants the right to bear arms to all citizens.
The day before his speech at the Virginia Tech memorial convocation, his press secretary, Dana Perino, said: ‘‘The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed.”
However, the second amendment was written when the US nation was still insecure about foreign invasion. Its sole instrumental purpose was to ensure citizens were equipped to form a militia in the absence of a standing army.
Meanwhile, news is breaking about the sheer quantity of ammunition expended by the Virginia Tech killer. Among the inventory he carried on the day were hollow-point shells and ammunition clips capable of holding up to 30 bullets.
Protagonists on both sides of the gun debate in the US tend to stereotype their opponents, yet the pro-gun movement seems incapable of articulating a balanced view on the sorts of weapons required by the average citizen.
The fact remains high-powered guns are too easy to get in Virginia. Second-hand weapons may be purchased with no background check, and there are no state restrictions on the sale of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons, such as the AK47.
As we learned last week, a Virginia judicial officer certified in 2005 that Cho presented ‘‘an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness’’.
As such, Cho probably fell within the category of ‘‘adjudicated as a mental incompetent’’ used in the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968. However, none of this showed up in his background checks on the day he purchased his weapons.
My gun-advocate friends often argue it would be impossible to fully regulate the ownership of guns. Better then to let everyone carry a weapon so that they might defend themselves and thereby create a deterrent.
Yet they ignore the experience of many Europeans, such as myself, who have grown up in countries where gun ownership is regulated quite successfully.
This weekend, most Virginia Tech students will be envious of the sort of peace and security that such regulation can provide.
Nicholas Kiersey, who is from Blessington, Co Wicklow, is a PhD student at Virginia Tech
Irish Examiner: Irish students ‘should still come to US’
19/04/07 22:30 Filed in: Virginia Tech
Irish Examiner
18 April 2007
Irish students ‘should still come to US’
By Stephen Rogers and Brendan Furlong
AN Irish student who lost one of his best friends in the Virginia Tech shootings has said it must not discourage Irish students from going to America for an education.
Nicholas Kiersey, a native of Blessington, Co Wicklow, was not at the campus when the shootings occurred — the PhD student, and teaching assistant on European Affairs is working in the University of Virginia until he completes his PhD in May.
However, his girlfriend was there and yesterday he was travelling to the university from his work in the University of Virginia to comfort her over the loss of their friend Reema Sahama.
“We did not know she was even involved until late on Monday night. At that point we got word that she was in hospital,” he said.
“Then we got the word last night that she had died and that she was the 33rd and last so far, though there are many more in hospital.”
Mr Kiersey, who has been living in Virginia for five years, said that despite the hype which had been built up at the campus with news crews swarming around it, the fact remained there had not been a mass shooting at a university in America since 1966.
However, he admitted this incident would have much more far-reaching consequences as many of the children at Virginia Tech have powerful families.
“These are the sons and daughters of policy makers, espionage people, defence contractors, all manner of American government.”
However, he said the human element must not be forgotten, adding that the tragedy must not discourage Irish students from studying in the US.
“I would not hesitate to encourage anyone to come to the US. This is obviously a tragic event but we have to put it in context.”
Gorey resident and University College Dublin exchange student Nicola Greene told how she woke up to the sound of sirens between 7.15am and 7.30am only yards from where she was sleeping.
She was about to go to a 10am class when she received an email telling her not to leave the dormitory. That was when the bulk of the victims were shot.
“We were eventually let out of the dorm several hours after what had happened. We are getting all our information from TV and people calling” she said.
Three other Irish students, Esther Ryan, Liam Brennan and Eoin Butler all escaped injury in the tragedy.
18 April 2007
Irish students ‘should still come to US’
By Stephen Rogers and Brendan Furlong
AN Irish student who lost one of his best friends in the Virginia Tech shootings has said it must not discourage Irish students from going to America for an education.
Nicholas Kiersey, a native of Blessington, Co Wicklow, was not at the campus when the shootings occurred — the PhD student, and teaching assistant on European Affairs is working in the University of Virginia until he completes his PhD in May.
However, his girlfriend was there and yesterday he was travelling to the university from his work in the University of Virginia to comfort her over the loss of their friend Reema Sahama.
“We did not know she was even involved until late on Monday night. At that point we got word that she was in hospital,” he said.
“Then we got the word last night that she had died and that she was the 33rd and last so far, though there are many more in hospital.”
Mr Kiersey, who has been living in Virginia for five years, said that despite the hype which had been built up at the campus with news crews swarming around it, the fact remained there had not been a mass shooting at a university in America since 1966.
However, he admitted this incident would have much more far-reaching consequences as many of the children at Virginia Tech have powerful families.
“These are the sons and daughters of policy makers, espionage people, defence contractors, all manner of American government.”
However, he said the human element must not be forgotten, adding that the tragedy must not discourage Irish students from studying in the US.
“I would not hesitate to encourage anyone to come to the US. This is obviously a tragic event but we have to put it in context.”
Gorey resident and University College Dublin exchange student Nicola Greene told how she woke up to the sound of sirens between 7.15am and 7.30am only yards from where she was sleeping.
She was about to go to a 10am class when she received an email telling her not to leave the dormitory. That was when the bulk of the victims were shot.
“We were eventually let out of the dorm several hours after what had happened. We are getting all our information from TV and people calling” she said.
Three other Irish students, Esther Ryan, Liam Brennan and Eoin Butler all escaped injury in the tragedy.
Irish Independent: Trauma of Irish: lecturer's friend among the victims
19/04/07 00:43 Filed in: Virginia Tech
~NiK
------------------
Trauma of Irish: lecturer's friend among the victims
http://www.unison.ie/stories.php3?ca=30&si=1814204
Wednesday April 18th 2007
AN Irish politics lecturer at Virginia Tech has expressed his shock at learning that the gunman who took the life of his close friend was an English language student.
Nicholas Kiersey (32), from Blessington, Wicklow, said he had imagined that the Virginia Tech killer had been struggling with a high-pressure course.
Mr Kiersey's close friend Reema Samaha was the final victim of the South Korean gunman.
The Lebanese woman was in the same dance troupe as Mr Kiersey's girlfriend Madigan, and the couple had enjoyed a day out with her last weekend.
Mr Kiersey, who spent five years as a student at Virginia Tech before becoming a lecturer, said he believes that his fellow graduate student and friend Esther Ryan, also from Wicklow, may also have lost close friends during the gun attack.
Post-grad engineering student Ms Ryan told friends on her Bebo page that her friend's husband and another male friend were missing.
UCD offered three Irish undergraduate students flights home as the extent of the tragedy unfolded. Liam Brennan, Eoin Butler and Nicola Greene, who are studying a year-long engineering course, were on the campus when the shootings took place.
The Dublin college is also opening an online book of condolences that will be sent to Virginia Tech.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern offered "whatever assistance" was required to the students and liaised with their college in Belfield.
It is understood that all of the Irish students have decided to complete their studies before returning home in May.
"I thought my friends and I had got away with it, but Reema died in hospital," Mr Kiersey told the Irish Independent as he made his way to a memorial service at the college yesterday.
He said he had never heard of the gunman but was mystified about his motivation. "English is not known to be a high-pressure course," he said.
"I thought he might have been in engineering at first, as the students on that programme are under a lot of pressure."
Undergraduate student Nicola Greene, from Ballinacoola near Gorey, said she was about to leave for a class at 10am when she got an email informing her to stay indoors.
"It seemed odd at first because before 10am you need to swipe a card to prove you're a resident of the building," she said. "It made me suspicious that anybody could have got into the building that was not a student."
Her parents said she would remain at the college until her exams in May.
"Nicola is very calm," said her father John.
"She will not be coming home yet as there are exams to be done and grades to be achieved.
"It's been an absolutely wonderful experience for her up to now. It will probably be safer there now than it has ever been."
-- Anne-Marie Walsh