The XMEN Clan Forums

Ive got several papers to write, and I need some input from the bunch of ya.

Answer some questions for me if youve got time. I need to get outside input.

1.) What impact do you believe that the VATech shooting will have locally in the long term?

2.) What kinds of changes do you expect to come about as a result of the shooting?

3.) How long do you believe the media circus will last?

4.) Do you think that colleges will make significant changes to their policy?

5.) What kinds of changes do you expect?

6.) What kinds of changes would you accept, and what kinds would you not accept?

7.) At the college level, what kinds of policy changes could you deal with?

8.) Do you think that changes are necessary given the amount of information we have?

Oh, goody! A survey! *bounce* *bounce* *bounce*

1.) What impact do you believe that the VATech shooting will have locally in the long term?
Will probably drive the campus to be more insular and attempt to restrict access somewhat. Obviously this would not have helped prevent this latest incident unless campus police were prepared to search a significant percentage of cars coming in.


2.) What kinds of changes do you expect to come about as a result of the shooting?
I expect more pro- and anti-gun lobby rhetoric. I expect a lot of finger pointing. I do not expect any sort of meaningful resolution.


3.) How long do you believe the media circus will last?
Until the next "big story" comes along. If this VT shooting had not occurred, we'd probably still be hearing more about Anna Nicole's life/baby/lovers/death


4.) Do you think that colleges will make significant changes to their policy?
I don't believe they will make changes I consider significant, as they would be very expensive to implement. I believe they will make minor adjustments to policy so that they can feel like they are doing something constructive. It is possible that enough public pressure could be put upon the school to make the significant, expensive changes, which in the long run (10+ yrs) would probably hurt the school.

5.) What kinds of changes do you expect?
See #1. Restricted access (fewer entrance/exit points), more campus cops, metal detectors. Possibly centralized alert system of some sort. Remote lockdown capabilities are possible but pretty unlikely. I also expect some sort of psychological monitoring or at least heightened awareness of any "unusual" or "abnormal" behavior, with very limited success and false positives.

6.) What kinds of changes would you accept, and what kinds would you not accept?
If I were a student, acceptable changes include more campus cops, alert system, annual psych interview. Lift campus gun ban.
Restricted entrance/exit points not. Lockdown not. Metal detectors maybe.

7.) At the college level, what kinds of policy changes could you deal with?
Pretty much same as #6

8.) Do you think that changes are necessary given the amount of information we have? Not sure, but some changes at this point changes are inevitable, and many will be made merely for political expediency.


Is that too cynical? Or not enough? Hard to tell these days...

1.) What impact do you believe that the VATech shooting will have locally in the long term?

Seeing that impact already here in Rochester. Scared-silly parents, administrators scrambling to reassure people, speakers coming to talk and generally frightening the stuffing out of the locals (the guy was showing just how much hardware he could conceal in a sweater and cargo pants), and students generally being in a mild tizzy.

Long-term, probably improved communications with the students. Local admins are already talking about putting into action a service that'll quickly notify students via landline, cell, text message, and e-mail if something weird happens.

2.) What kinds of changes do you expect to come about as a result of the shooting?

Aside from the comms changes above, I don't expect much aside from changed plans concerning how the schools interact with the local law enforcement.

3.) How long do you believe the media circus will last?

Until they get it through their thick skulls that martyrdom\\glory is what that nutjob wanted, and they're giving it to him.

4.) Do you think that colleges will make significant changes to their policy?

Significant as in useful, or significant as in flashy?

5.) What kinds of changes do you expect?

See #2. Add in a non-policy change; more paranoia, particularly towards those of Asian descent, at least until folks realize that being stark raving loony is an equal-opportunity career.

6.) What kinds of changes would you accept, and what kinds would you not accept?

I'm cool with our current local proposed changes. I'm not cool with the fact that the admins assume all students have access to at least one of those lines of communication at all times, but I suppose it's the best they can do. I don't have a cell phone for daily carry, and I won't have one until absolutely forced to. When I'm in class, the only method I have available to me is e-mail, and that's not even a sure thing.

I'd be cool with a little more... savvy when it comes to the school staff watching out for folks like this. Hard to define, sorry.

I could probably handle metal detectors, but I wouldn't like it much, nor would they make me feel safe. A truly determined nutjob will find a way.

I would not accept armed guards. The amount of manpower and money needed to cover your average campus all but guarantees that the training and profiling of those guards will not be up to snuff, in my opinion. Carrying a loaded weapon, all by itself, is a huge responsiblity that requires tact, calm, common-sense, and training. Carrying one and being asked to guard a whole mass of students requires more.

7.) At the college level, what kinds of policy changes could you deal with?

See #6.

8.) Do you think that changes are necessary given the amount of information we have?

Changes in the media, for certain. Not going to happen, sadly. Edward R. Murrow has been dead for a long time, and no one's going to step up.

I don't believe there need to be any changes to the gun control laws, just better enforcement. That requires more manpower and money, probably will not happen.

And I think there should be changes in our very culture, mostly along the lines of actually paying real attention to our children and fellow citizens in a community sense, but again, probably not going to happen.[/b]

thanks for the replies guys!


I need a variety of ages and views expressed by as many people as possible. Eventually, I'll have to present it in a long boring essay noone wants to read for a grade.


...every time my ENGL111 teacher hands out an assignment, it never makes sense, or at least applies to the real world. This one finally does, and I'm going to have to stick with the same topic for THREE essays with different methods of communication. Fortunately, this class is worth 5 of the 15 hours of commication in my degree.

Ages? I'm 29, for your records, though my parents were born in the 30s and 40s. Tends to warp my perspective a bit.

yes, I need a reasonable spread to make a generalization.

37 here.

Age: 24


1.) What impact do you believe that the VATech shooting will have locally in the long term?

New bound college students will no longer look at smaller remote campus's as peaceful and isolated from danger. Parents will question the security of any campus their children even consider in an attempt to quench their fear of their own being caught by a mass murderer or bomber. Some students locally either have already dropped out in fear or will finish the quarter and never return. The police will be hard press to show that they are doing something to help prevent such an event here, but that will only be a temporary show that probably won't be replaced with anything long term.

2.) What kinds of changes do you expect to come about as a result of the shooting?

They will review the current means for students to get psychiatric (sp?) on campus. My college gives each student 3 free sessions but the wait list to have one is estimated to be a year long. No other changes will happen for years, and even the review of ways students get mental help will take a couple of years.

3.) How long do you believe the media circus will last?

Until another world tragedy with tens of thousand killed, the US makes "another mistake" according to them, another person commits mass murder, or another celebrity dies from drug over dose.

4.) Do you think that colleges will make significant changes to their policy?

Not within my life time, but might begin with my future children's lives.

5.) What kinds of changes do you expect?

I expect to see published plans of emergency for each building on campus for various scenarios, similar to the fire maps for means of escape. Buildings like the main library will get some form of a detector, maybe a bomb sniffing device or metal.

6.) What kinds of changes would you accept, and what kinds would you not accept?

I would accept scanners at doors to buildings that will scan my person and identify the most common weapons and explosives without slowing me down (probably doesn't exist yet). The further restriction of what students can enter what buildings, such as Mechanical Engineering students can only enter the ME building at night or the labs at any time. Reducing the car traffic on campus and closing some of the entry points by turning them into either walk paths or walling part of them off.

7.) At the college level, what kinds of policy changes could you deal with?

None that have any real meaning.

8.) Do you think that changes are necessary given the amount of information we have?

Yes, even without all the information. They should have tested every student for mental stability when they enter and then do an annual check for at least the two years to ensure that they are handling the college environment well.

TY Timberwolf

Addendum: One proposed change here (and other places, I heard) is yearly interviews for students by psych staff, presumably to find nutjobs before they go out in a hail of bullets.

That's fine and dandy with me. I enjoy such sessions, because I know exactly how to game the system.

However, there's nothing preventing some dude who just got fired from his job (ie: someone not on the roster at the school) from getting a weapon and deciding the relatively defenseless students at the local college might make an excellent target range.

I'll post more later, questions-wise, but just to add to Bug's post:

From my own experience with the government, just after something happens is often the worst time to come up with solutions. No one takes the time to think things through on all of the angles. It's just, pass that order/bill/whatever, and do something. Just look at the TSA for example, if someone really wanted to do something, they still can. But the TSA is there mostly to reassure the public.

I very much agree with Asha's & Bug's latest posts above.

Once again guys, thanks for your time. My final draft is due monday in class. I hope i can spin my topic into a working essay thats worthy of a decent grade.

After getting my 1st essay back, Ive determined that my professor is overly critical, and pretty much wants perfection on the essays. 1 person in the class got an A, and it werent me(I got a B).