This is a horrendous incident and the thoughts and prayers of the faculty, staff and students at UNCG go out to the entire Virginia Tech community. This kind of thing shakes a campus to its very core, and we grieve for the loss, pain and shock that Blacksburg is feeling.
The openness of an academic community is under constant threat from many sources. We don't think the threat to a campus will come from within the community, but campuses are made of many different kinds of people from many different backgrounds.
At UNCG, the safety and health of our own students is paramount, and we do everything possible to guarantee that here on the campus. We are especially sensitive to this need in the wake of the shooting that took place in a UNCG residence hall on March 24. Prudent security is a major part of today's campus but it is not failsafe. Academic communities have to work hard to insure safety while preserving the freedom that is our core value.
I would like to ask all UNCG faculty, staff and students to pause at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday (today) for a moment of silence as we join Virginia Tech in grieving its loss. Virginia Tech will be holding an on-campus convocation at that time, and I believe it would be most appropriate for us to remember the victims, their families, and the Virginia Tech community in this way.
Ultimately, a tragedy of this magnitude will linger for years. It will cause many tough questions to be asked about security on every campus nationally, and unfortunately sometimes there are no easy answers for some questions.
Patricia A. Sullivan
Chancellor, UNCG
