Who's to blame at Virginia Tech?

Taking into account recent controversies at LMU such as the complaints about student housing mix-ups, next year's parking policy and the raised tuition, it's easy to see ways in which the bureaucracy of a school can fail its students.

Yet in regards to these topics, I believe it's not the fault of LMU itself, but the very nature of the bureaucracy that has continually failed students across the nation, and this week, specifically those at Virginia Tech University.

Any new parking policy now seems trivial to the tragedy that occurred on Monday.

As of this writing, Monday, April 16, 2007 will go down in history as the deadliest school shooting the United States has ever witnessed. At Virginia Tech University, 33 university members have been declared dead with another 30 people injured and in critical condition.

The problem here is two-fold.

The first and most obvious is the shooter, Cho Seng Hui. The media is suggesting he was a social outcast (the term "loner" is being thrown around on every news outlet). The media also stated there may have been signs of his depression prior to the shooting.

While Cho is an obvious problem, he -- or this type of individual rather -- remain a constant problem that society has tried to address before.

Unfortunately, history assures us there will always be people with atrocious thoughts and sadly, some of them will ultimately transition their thoughts into violent actions.

The second issue, the school's response, is a problem that society can fix.

Based on what the news is reporting, the first shooting occurred at 7:15 a.m. The campus police department received a report that a shooting had taken place at the West Ambler Johnston residence hall.

Two people were killed at West Ambler.

Norris Hall, part of the Virginia Tech Engineering Department, was where the bigger shooting began.

At 9:45 a.m., two hours later, the villain systematically shot as many as 30 other students. Then, it has been reported, the perpetrator took his own life as he realized the mess he had gotten himself into.

So what was the school doing between 7:15 a.m. and 9 a.m.?

I know how easy it is to criticize people in leadership positions from the sidelines -- many tend to do this with President Bush-perhaps without knowing the whole picture. I also recognize that hindsight is always 20/20. I am always the first to give any leader the benefit of the doubt, but this seems a bit more complicated.

The University's President, Charles Steger, defended the administration's action, or lack thereof in my opinion, by stating, "We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."

While my heart and prayers go out to all at Virginia Tech and I'll even admit Mr. Steger has proven himself to be legitimately sorry for what has happened, its hard to understand the university's response to the first "shooting," as classified by the school, when in reality this "shooting" was a double homicide.

I would hope that whether or not the administration thought this was a "domestic dispute," double homicides are not common enough at Virginia Tech to justify the slow response time and lame response overall. A warning sent via e-mail approximately two hours after a crime was committed that is both uncommon and in which a perpetrator had yet to be caught makes little sense.

I'm no idiot. I know that Virginia Tech is massive. In fact, Virginia Tech houses over 25,000 students. I realize that it would be the same as trying to shut down a small city. But the problem is that Virginia Tech administration failed its first and foremost duty of protecting the students. Again, a mass e-mail sent two hours after the first two shootings is laughable.

Many arguments can be made that the timing of the notification or method in which students were notified could have caused more panic than safety. Some may even say it was just impossible to do anything at all. But keeping in mind that the campus authorities knew that there were two murders at 7:15 a.m. and they did not have a suspect in custody, what other steps did the school take to prevent another occurrence?

In interviews, many students are stating the school did nothing to prevent them from going to class or even give them a heads up. At least not until two hours after the fact.

Was there even a consideration to block off streets, beef up security or strongly regulate school access? So far, there doesn't appear to have been.

If I was a student of Virginia Tech, I would be extremely furious with the school's administration.

The deadliest mass shooting in our history represents the utter failure of the bureaucracy.

Consider another deadly act of mass murder: 9/11.

What did the falling of the Twin Towers represent?

I never tend to subscribe to conspiracy theories. I firmly believe no one in the United States government knew beforehand that at 8:43 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001 there would be an unprecedented attack on U.S. soil. But I am a firm believer that 9/11 was a massive intelligence failure due to the bureaucracy of our government.

I believe wholeheartedly that different members of our intelligence community may have had random parts of the puzzle that, if pieced together, might have prevented the deaths of those 3,000 Americans. Due to the of lack of communication and the nature of our government's own bureaucracy, New York City and the Pentagon were attacked with much more ease than they could have been.

Even after the planes hit the World Trade Center, the response on that morning, however appropriate given the circumstances, was undoubtedly hammered down by the inability to act without the bureaucratic overlay. Can you imagine the conversations at government agencies that horrible Tuesday morning? "Mr. so and so needs to sign off on this action before it can be approved" "A decision has been postponed until all members of the committee have arrived."

The only "good" news that came of 9/11 was that the American citizens would not stand for the bureaucratic B.S. and at the same time the government was trying to discover what had hit them, individual citizens fostered the resolve to formulate their own response. Cue Flight 93.

Anyone who has flown anywhere before knows that Flight 93 passengers broke all the rules. The FAA bans cell phone use on planes. You must stay in your seat for the duration of the flight. Obviously, physical fighting is not allowed on board.

But the citizens didn't abide by the government's own bureaucratic regulations; they acted as free men and ultimately foiled the terrorist plans to attack the suspected target, The White House.

In comparison, while Virginia Tech officials showed very poor judgment in alerting the students-again probably due to the legal and bureaucratic ramifications of making an immediate school-wide alert -- I heard about a teacher that was able to escape after being shot.

Though fatally wounded in the arm, he was able to go outside and warn other students walking on campus to protect themselves and go back to their dorms before he died on the sidewalk.

This act of heroism should always be remembered by the students at Virginia Tech and the American people, similar to the Americans who stood up to the terrorists on United 93.

It both instances, citizens discovered they could perform the responsibilities of the institutions they trusted with their security more effectively than the governmental body itself.

Am I advocating an overthrow of the government? No. Am I saying the administration of Virginia Tech University caused the deaths of 33 students? Absolutely not. Did the government cause or know about 9/11? Definitely not. I am saying perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the relationship of government and citizen.

Perhaps it is time to hand some of the power back to the people. Perhaps things could get done faster and more efficiently in a society that becomes self-reliant: A society that does not fear the establishment's response to crisis.

"When people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." Truer words may have yet to have been spoken.

This is the opinion of Will Werre, a sophomore theater and science major from Chicago, Ill. Please send comments to wwerre@theloyolan.com.