Chancellor's Statement on Tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor
April 17, 2007

Yesterday's mass shooting at Virginia Tech stunned the nation and the world, but the images were particularly vivid for those of us on university campuses. The settings and circumstances with which we are so familiar were transformed into nightmare scenes in which we could too easily see ourselves. Each of us asked, what would I have done if I had been in that classroom, in that dormitory, or in the hallway, stairwell, or courtyard of a campus building under siege?

We mourn for the victims and feel the heartache of families and friends that so many lives were cut short by tragedy. We share the sense of fragility that what had been a haven for learning has been fractured by fear and catastrophe. Knowing that it could happen on any university campus has made us all the more compassionate for the Blacksburg, Virginia, community in its time of loss.

As always, in the aftermath of adversity, there will be lessons learned. To the extent that any university campus can be, IUPUI is prepared to address emergencies of all kinds, but we regularly review our emergency procedure plans and will continue to update them, particularly with respect to technologies that facilitate communication. If you would like to know more about emergency preparedness at IUPUI, visit www.iupui.edu/~prepared/ or come to a town hall meeting on campus safety which will be held in Lecture Hall room 101 at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 19. Paul Norris, IUPUI chief of police, and others, will be available to discuss emergency preparedness plans and answer questions.

On Thursday, April 19th, at 12 noon all central Indiana university students, faculty, and staff are invited to come together in front of the University College at IUPUI for a Prayer Vigil Memorial to remember those who lost their lives at Virginia Tech. The Office of Campus and Community Life staff are working with student leaders to organize this city-wide event.

For more information on either of these events, please visit events.iupui.edu.

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