After today’s Virginia Tech gun-on-campus scare, I find myself frustrated more than anything.
If you live under a rock, here is what happened:
Three boys attending a summer camp reported seeing a man with what looked like might be a gun hidden under a piece of cloth. They described the man and said he was walking quickly toward the volleyball courts.
A campus notification was sent out immediately and the campus was put on lock down. Understandably, they do not take those sorts of things lightly around here so several surrounding police forces were brought in to help investigate.
About an hour after the first alert, I started receiving texts from concerned friends. The news had reached the national level. My first reaction was sadness. How sad that this is what the media focuses on when it comes to Virginia Tech. What an image to portray of such a great university. I understand that news is inevitable whether good or bad, but I know this kind of weapon sighting isn’t so uncommon as to make the national news when it does happen.
After a quick Google search for “man on campus with gun” omitting the words “Virginia” and “Tech,” I was able to come up with 7 similar happenings in the last couple years. For instance, Central Texas College, Tennessee State University, University of Texas, University of Nebraska, etc. And that was just on the first 2 pages of search results. I hadn’t heard of one of them- and I assure you I am an avid news watcher.
But for some reason, the alert of a possible weapon sighting was the most read story on CNN for a large chunk of the day.
When I first told people I would be attending Virginia Tech in the Fall, I knew it was to be expected that some ignorant people would bring up the 2007 shootings… people who weren’t very knowledgeable about the academic world- or at least enough to know that Virginia Tech is a prestigious school known for much more than that. They are ranked in the top 50 research universities in the country. While maybe it isn’t even ignorant for people to know nothing about the academic world, it’s still pretty tactless to blurt out “Oh, the place with the shootings?”
Regardless, that is how a lot of people recognize Virginia Tech which is neither here nor there. What upset me about today was that people were once again shown this bad side of Virginia Tech that likely wasn’t even there. (It appears to have been a false alarm) This place is not scary whatsoever. Every single person I’ve met here is nicer than the last. I’ve been saying that since my first visit last summer. There is no attitude of competition; people genuinely want you to succeed and just be friendly. The streets aren’t littered with beer bottles and trash. There aren’t daily reports of vandalizing. I say these things as I compare what I have seen at other large universities.
How about a story on the $1 million grant a professor just received for research? Or about how Virginia Tech raises more money for the American Cancer Society during Relay for Life than any other campus in the country?! Or even just about how VT’s dining facilities are rated #1 in the country? No? While I realize these things aren't as relevant to the average national news watcher, I'm not sure why they are any less relevant than today's happenings.
All in all, I'm just disappointed in the media and sad for Virginia Tech.
