VIRGINIA TECH SAYS it will appeal a fine imposed for not warning students in a ‘timely manner’ about a shooter on the university’s campus. 32 people were killed in the mass shooting on April 16th 2007, when 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui went on a killing rampage, before turning the gun on himself.
The US Department of Education has compiled a report on the incident, and is imposing the maximum statutory fine on Virginia Tech for violation of The Clery Act. The act was initiated in 1990 after a 19 year old student Jeanne Ann Clery was raped and killed in her dorm room at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. It stipulates that colleges and universities must disclose safety information to students in a timely fashion.
According to CNN over two hours passed between the time police first arrived on the scene at Virginia Tech, and the first notification of the shooting to students via email.
The US Department of Education report found that the email “was vague and only notified the community that there had been a shooting on campus. it did not mention that there had been a murder or that the killer had not been identified”. A second, more urgent message was sent out 24 minutes later, after Cho had gone on a sustained shooting rampage for 11 minutes, killing 30 people. He had earlier killed 2 people in a different part of the campus.
US media reports state that Virginia Tech says it will fight the fine, while the Department of Education says it should pay more. The university is also facing multi-million dollar lawsuits from the families of two victims.
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