Does anyone else find it ironic that it has taken a panel four and a half months to find that Virginia Tech acted too slowly?
Gee, thanks for the news flash. Most of us figured that out on day one.
I don't dispute that quicker notification to the entire campus might have helped save lives, but that's the obvious conclusion of hindsight.
Given the merciful rarity of serial murder attacks of this type, Virginia Tech's delay in figuring out whether to warn the whole campus was understandable. It may have been wrong in hindsight, but it made at least some sense at the time based on what the university knew and did not know. There's a balance to be had between full disclosure of all possible dangers and avoiding encouragement of unwarranted panic.
Looking back, we all know that time was of the essence in stopping the shooter, but that wasn't obvious on the day of the attack, in the real world and in real time -- the only world and time in which the police and university officials operated. What they had on their hands, as far as they knew, was an isolated homicide.
The only party that had the benefit of hindsight was this panel. According to the Associated Press, "The eight-member panel, appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, spent four months investigating the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history."
There is a place for leisurely, reasoned analysis. The legitimate purpose for such analysis is in prevention of future harm. To the extent that this panel's report is used for that purpose, then its findings should be put to use. But using the report to attempt to scapegoat anyone other than the shooter is just wrong. The AP hints at just such an intention on its part (but apparently not on the part of this panel):
Kaine said earlier Wednesday he did not conclude from the report that either Virginia Tech President Charles Steger or campus police Chief Wendell Flinchum should resign.
Resign? Who's askiing for anyone's resignation? I can't imagine any circumstance in which I would consider it fair or reasonable to allow a good-faith (but erroneous) decision made within less than 2 hours in response to a rare type of emergency to destroy the career of a campus president or campus police chief.
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