June 7, 2007
New Hokie stone memorial planned
This summer, a new 32-stone memorial will replace the current arc of stones on Virginia Tech's Drillfield.
Officials say the new stone memorial will stay in place until a group decides the design and spot for a permanent memorial to the 32 people shot on April 16.
The new Hokie stones will have the names of victims engraved in them, and will be embedded in an arc of crushed gravel. Once it's complete, the current stones will be given to family members of the victims.
The university's landscape architect designed the memorial. University officials expect it to be completed sometime in mid August, before students return to campus.
Student group Hokies United placed the original 32 stones on the Drillfield. But, a Tech spokesman said that's not a feasable spot to erect a permanent memorial because it's too traffic laden and has a slope.
Instead, the group that decided to erect the new stones has suggested placing a permanent memorial across the drillfield between Davidson and Price halls -- near the Duck Pond.
A new group of faculty, staff, alumni and others is expected to meet in the fall to begin looking at the permanent design. President Charles Steger will even weigh having a design competition.
Any permanent memorial wouldn't be in place for at least three years, though.
What do you think the permanent memorial should look like? Where's the best place for it?
Comments
[June 8, 2007 10:26 AM]
Wondering....The point I am about to make will not doubt upset some people, but I also know that I am not alone in my view.
It is troubling that the Virginia Tech administration insists that any memorial recognize only 32 people when 33 people died on April 16. Understandably, the families of the students and faculty who were killed might not want the memorial to include the student who killed himself, but could it be that some of the families recognize the tragedy of that young man's life and recognize the anguish his family has experienced? Could it be that some of those families do not necessarily blame the young man, but blame the fragmented, under-funded mental health system that failed him and possibly a Virginia Tech administration that placed the institution in harms’ way? Is the grief of the family of the young man who took 32 lives and then his own any less important or valid than the grief of the other families? Is their loss any less than the loss of the other families?
It was also troubling to read that funds donated to the Tech Foundation are only going to support 32 families. Again, thirty-three families are suffering and have needs. Why can’t the Virginia Tech administration have just a little bit of compassion for the 33rd family? It would seem to be the very least the institution could do since its administration failed that young man in so many, many ways.
Also makes you wonder what the Tech Foundation would do if a donor came forward with $100,000 to establish an endowed fund in memory of the 33rd victim. Would the gift be accepted and the fund established?
[June 8, 2007 11:30 AM]
Troubling...The point I am about to make will no doubt upset some people, but I also know that I am not alone in my view.
It is troubling that the Virginia Tech administration insists that any memorial recognize only 32 people when 33 people died on April 16. Understandably, the families of the students and faculty who were killed might not want the memorial to include the student who killed himself, but could it be that some of the families recognize the tragedy of that young man's life and recognize the anguish his family has experienced? Could it be that some of those families do not necessarily blame the young man, but blame the fragmented, under-funded mental health system that failed him and possibly a Virginia Tech administration that placed the institution in harms’ way? Is the grief of the family of the young man who took 32 lives and then his own any less important or valid than the grief of the other families? Is their loss any less than the loss of the other families?
It was also troubling to read that funds donated to the Tech Foundation are only going to support 32 families. Again, thirty-three families are suffering and have needs. Why can’t the Virginia Tech administration have just a little bit of compassion for the 33rd family? It would seem to be the very least the institution could do since its administration failed that young man in so many, many ways.
Also makes you wonder what the Tech Foundation would do if a donor came forward with $100,000 to establish an endowed fund in memory of the 33rd victim. Would the gift be accepted and the fund established?
[July 9, 2007 10:02 AM]
johnI think the family of the shooter is to be pitied, but they don't deserve any financial compensation and he should be excluded from any memorial. Financial compensation won't help bring the 32 victims back either, nor will the memorial, but the memorial should honor victims not the perpetrator. The mental health system is broken, and has gone backwards instead of forwards since Reagan took office and pharmaceutical companies began marketing drugs as the cure-all, and perhaps that is where some of the blame may reside, but the world is full of crazy people who are considered normal until they do something like this (just get out on the road and you'll find many of them expressing their psychosis with their driving; or, just count the number of lunatics and psychotics you've ever worked for -- or with -- in the past). Such insane actions really can't be predicted no matter how many shrinks and professors were in the know, and the shooter is still accountable for his own actions in the end, since the blame really can't be placed on anyone else directly. Regardless, our society is still broken in spite of (or because of) the idea of free choice, accountability, and so-on -- this is yet another symbol of that greater problem.