University of Massachusetts sophomore Jennifer Iaconetti says the massacre at Virginia Tech one year ago made her grasp that tragedies can happen at any point in time.
Iaconetti has friends who are students at Virginia Tech and recalls looking at their statuses on Facebook following the shooting.
“There is a drastic difference between watching news reports and seeing your friends’ statuses on Facebook saying that they’re home for two weeks because they’re so shaken up,” she said. “It made me personally realize that anything can happen at any given time with no warning whatsoever.”
One year after the shooting at Virginia Tech, the university is hosting a day of remembrance to show tribute to the thirty-two students and faculty who were killed.
The Virginia Tech campus will be open, but classes will not be held. Departments are encouraged to give employees as much flexibility as possible during this day and is compensated regular work hours during time spent attending remembrance events on campus, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.
The campus is holding two official ceremonies on the Drillfield. At 10:30 a.m. until noon, Gov. Tim Kaine and Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger will speak at a Commemoration. At this time statements will be read about each of the thirty-two students and faculty members who lost their lives. A student-run candlelight vigil will also be held at 8:15 pm.
Here at the University of Massachusetts, a small memorial will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Some students their own memorial, using their talents to show remembrance.
“My friends and I were talking about getting together to put on some sort of musical performance for the Marching Virginias, who lost Ryan Clark, a trumpeter that day,” says Nicholas McKenzie, a UMass Marching Band member.
After the losses during this tragedy, campuses across the country have begun to ensure more safety. The state legislature has passed a law that state colleges in Massachusetts are required to install Campus Alerts, a text messaging system which notifies students and faculty via text messaging when an emergency situation has occurred.
“Virginia Tech was definitely a precipitator that prompted the installment of campus alerts. We all recognize that the world is changing,” states Ed Blaguszewski, UMass spokesman.
The information that will be transmitted trough the messages will be similar to the campus alerts that are currently being sent through broadcast e-mails and will include public health issues. Police make final judgment on what type of situation will require information to be sent out.
Students can sign up for this service on Spire. Amanda Smith, a student at UMass said she’s already signed up for the text messaging, which became available last week.
“It’s free and after some of the incidents down in Southwest where I live, it would be good to have more immediate access to what is going on,” said Smith.
Iaconetti also signed up for the program and is glad it’s been implemented.
“All texting is free for me anyway, so I wasn’t concerned with it in that capacity,” said Iaconetti “I think that it is a great idea because the technological resource is available and, if it can ensure the safety of even a handful of people, is completely worthwhile.”
Blaguszewski explained that while there was not one particular incident on campus that led up to the installation of Campus Alerts, the suspicion of the bomb in Herter Hall last semester, and the threatening graffiti in public restrooms beginning of this semester support the case that Campus Alerts are necessary.
While the Virginia Tech massacre was a wake-up call to universities worldwide that safety must be increased, some students claim they already feel safe on the UMass campus.
“I think that overall it is pretty safe here, whether or not it is the job of the police, I don’t know, but I don’t feel like we have any more issues of violence than any other school,” said Amanda Zepp, a freshman. “I mean, they have people posted in the dorms at night time and usually are always around so if something was to happen it probably wouldn’t be that hard to find a policeman or person to help in endangerment.”
Other students feel safe and think the police department and administration are doing decent jobs in enhancing campus safety. Nicholas McKenzie said, “I do feel that UMPD does an adequate job keeping the student population safe. Could more be done? Not really. Add together 19,000 undergrads, 6,000 grad students, 1,500 employees…That’s a lot of people on campus every day. How many assaults have there been on campus this year? A rather small amount compared to how many people are around.”