Virginia Tech Visited.

The toughest thing about a crisis is that it appears without warning. As much as people have prepared for a fire, for example, when flames are seen bursting through walls or smoke seen billowing out from under doorways, surprise is the knee-jerk reaction of the witnesses. Being able to make snap decisions that are wise and good in response to this unwanted nightmare are never easy. All of us have been caught unaware. When that has happened, how often has our judgement been spot-on? I doubt any one of us can honestly say we have been wise and good in our reaction one hundred per cent of the time.

I mention this in lieu of the recent court decision finding Virginia Tech negligent for waiting to warn its students about an active shooter on campus in 2007. Before committing suicide, this killer ultimately shot 32 students and faculty. It remains the worst tragedy on an American campus in the history of our nation. Upon learning two students had been killed, administrators claimed they purposelly waited to tell the entire campus because they thought those shootings were isolated incidents. The jury disagreed. This, of course, is a powerful example of a crisis in need of snap decisions that were wise and good. That need was not met.


While I understand the logic of the administrators, I strongly concur with the jury. I am sure administrators did not want to ignite panic among the campus population. But the violent deaths of individuals at the hands of a gunman should have trumped their hesitancy. Rather than trying to decide whether to tell the campus community, their dilemma should have been in determining the quickest way to convey this terrible news. The people's need to know is paramount even if the news or information is unwanted, upsetting or inconvenient. On that day Virginia Tech officials did not act as responsibly as they should have. Possibly greater wisdom would have saved lives.