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Printer-Friendly ModeCrowd overwhelms Student Center in remembrance of VTech massacre
SVSU students, faculty and staff honor the victims at Virginia Polytechnic with a moment of silence and candlelight vigil
April 23, 2007 —
To the tune of "Amazing Grace," as played by engineering junior Greg Korf and biology junior David Haller, SVSU students, professors and administrators gathered in the Student Center rotunda for a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening to mourn the deaths of the 33 students killed in the shootings at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Most major media outlets have reported that the killing spree, perpetrated by Virginia Tech student Cho-Seung hui, is the largest mass-shooting in U.S. history. As the massacre took place on a university campus, it hit home with SVSU students.
"This is a very sobering experience," said nursing and Spanish freshman Felicia Newman. "Looking around, it's nice to see that we have set aside the tragedy and sadness and are coming together."
President Eric R. Gilbertson led a moment of silence at the vigil, expressing remorse for the lives that were lost.
"It's important for us to come together; there's a lot of symbolism here. There is a reason for the moment of silence: words don't serve as well when feelings need to be let loose," he said. "It's a powerful feeling. The tragedy hits home because it involved people like us. We need to also remember the rest of the people around the world in similar situations."
The rotunda could barely contain the crowd that gathered to remember those lost, even with the vigil being arranged on relatively short notice. Candles were passed out to those who attended, although there weren't enough for everybody. Secondary education major Anna Wilson said the occasion brought people together like never before.
"It seems like everyone is really grateful for each other," she said. "We set aside the cliques between us. I wish it were like this all the time."
Athletic training sophomore and Student Association Ombudsman Chelsea Robl helped organize the event. Robl hoped that the vigil could bring students closer together.
"This was something our campus community needed. We were at a point where people didn't know what to do," Robl said. "I think with something like this it can't do anything but bring us closer. It's all we can hope for."
The fact that the massacre took place at a university campus brings up the issue of campus security. Both Gilbertson and University Police Chief Ron Trepkowski agreed that there is no simple way to react to a tragedy like the shootings, but that SVSU has procedures to follow in the case of such an emergency, including asking everyone simply not to come to campus, and taking measures for those already at campus.
"Things like this could happen at a shopping mall, a street corner, a marketplace...but in this instance, they happened at a university," Gilbertson said. "There is no absolute protection against things. I wish there were, and I wish there were easy answers for this."
Trepkowski said that the University Police has established relationships with other police departments and on-campus organizations and departments should a shooting take place at SVSU.
"We've had some things in place for quite some time now, in being connected to the law enforcement community here in Saginaw County - even nationally, with campus leaders - we've done some things in the past several years to bring us up to speed, should we have an active shooter on campus," he explained.
"You know, I think we do a lot of things, as far as partnerships not only with our local law enforcement. And here at the University, we have a great working relationship with the ResLife staff, and we work real close with our conference bureau and athletics department."
Gilbertson was straightforward with his feelings.
"Frankly, we can watch for people who appear to us to be in emotional trouble," he said.
"I think we ought to look out for each other, though. Maybe we need to watch out for each other a little bit better."