Posted on April 21, 2007

A few sporadic sobs were about all that punctuated the somber atmosphere of a vigil held at the Diag Friday evening to honor the victims of last week's shooting at Virginia Tech University.

Students, professors, Ann Arbor residents and Virginia Tech alumni held candles and paid their respects to the Virginia Tech community.

Friday was deemed a nationwide day of mourning for those affected by the tragedy, LSA Dean of Students Sue Eklund said.

The vigil, led by Michigan Student Assembly President Zach Yost, lasted about 10 minutes and included a moment of silence to remember the lives that were lost. No sound equipment was used because students were taking final exams in nearby buildings.

Yost read aloud the names and hometowns of all 32 victims and asked attendees to keep the Virginia Tech community in their thoughts.

"I know that it means a lot for the students at Virginia Tech that we are standing here in solidarity with them," he said.

Before the vigil, Eklund led a forum in the Michigan Union to express support for Virginia Tech and explore ways to increase safety on the University's own campus. Seven faculty members and about 15 students, including representatives from MSA and LSA Student Government, attended the forum.

"We react differently and we respond differently to the uncertain times in which we live," Eklund said. "I think we feel the horror more deeply as members of a university community."

Todd Sevig, director of the University's Counseling and Psychological Services, spoke about the impact the tragedy could have on the mental health of students. He said words used by the media like rampage, murderer and depression, could trigger negative memories and cause students to feel grief. He also said the use of such words could lead to stereotyping of Asian Americans and people with mental illnesses.

"We need to offset all the horrible things we're hearing to try to help our community and other communities," Sevig said.

According to Sevig, the number of students seeking psychological services has steadily increased for the past few years, but there has been a substantial jump since the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Eklund said she was concerned about how some people responded to the tragedy. She said people wrongly accused the police, school administrators and healthcare providers of being incompetent. But what concerned her most was the stereotyping of Asian Americans and people with mental illnesses.

"At each of these stages, there was a group that felt relief and a group that felt fear that they would be the next target of bias," Eklund said.

Bill Bess, director of the University's Department of Public Safety, discussed some of the measures the department takes to make this campus as safe as possible.

Bess said that most DPS officers stay with the department for long periods of time and are dedicated to protecting students. Two of the department's officers attended the forum.

Bess said DPS has a number of emergency protocols, including one for a live shooting. He did not, however, go into detail about these protocols because public knowledge of the plans would render them ineffective, he said.

Bess said it's vital that students learn how to protect themselves. He listed some important safety tips, such as always using the buddy system and reporting any suspicious behavior to police.
"We share the responsibility of public safety with you," Bess said.

Yost said he appreciated DPS's presentation. He said students should be as informed about their safety on campus as they can be, but they should understand that emergency plans need to be kept confidential.

"We need as much transparency as possible without compromising ourselves in case such an incident should occur," Yost said.