RyanHarne.com

One year later and the memories are remarkably clear. No matter how hard I may try, the memory of the open 2nd story windows of Norris Hall still gives me chills. However, as a whole, Virginia Tech has healed; over time, the university will be unable to remember the event with any greater clarity than the monuments that now have permanence across campus. Gradually, a school shooting is all but forgotten.

The vast numbers of students at a university of this size helps to diminish the effects. Even though the 5 or 6 degrees of freedom rule applies in nearly all cases, the death of a person in a university setting only has significant effect on those within 2 or 3 degrees. The day following the shooting here, April 17, 2007, was the mourning at Cassell Coliseum. Afterwards, I ran into some friends who knew or who had friends who knew some victims that I didn’t know. The knowledge that I was so closely connected to yet another victim, without knowing him/her directly, literally hurt. You would think that only the 1st or 2nd degree of freedom would endure such anguish, but another factor is at play.

American universities come in 3 sizes: tall, grande, and venti. The tall, or private, universities have small student bodies, often well-developed curricula, and close ties. The grande are the small public universities, frequently with academic specializations or unique programs that can be especially marketed to high school seniors with an indifferent but adventurous approach to their higher academics. The venti universities are those that compete in Division I athletics and have a football team that is consistently ranked; these schools are black holes for undergraduates and have school spirit written into every piece of text you’ll find printed, scrawled, or vandalized across the campus.

Virginia Tech is a venti university where the school spirit - Hokie Spirit - is pervasive. A family connection is created by returning your acceptance letter which never ceases to exist (VT alum give an unprecedented amount of money back into the university following graduation).

When a school shooting takes place on the campus of a university like Virginia Tech, the school spirit suffers, too. This doesn’t mean that the school spirit is diminished by the catastrophe, but, rather that a type of innocence is lost for everyone. In effect, the 6 degrees of freedom rule is negated. If you’re a Hokie, you hurt.

One year later and the hurting isn’t as bad. The raucous environment of venti universities and the transient nature of graduates and incoming freshmen eliminates the attention span of its students, and suffering, or the need for healing for that matter, can be neglected. The phrase “We Will Prevail,” has worked and Virginia Tech is back on its feet.

Yet, one group still remembers April 16, 2007, with unmatched clarity.

Those in the 1st degree of freedom can never forget, never put to rest, and never replace the loss. I feel most sympathy for the families of those lost; I doubt one year of difference has provided a recession for the grief. The Hokie Nation has healed sufficiently but that veil of recovery is dwarfed by the remaining pain for those stuck in the 1st degree.

Anyways. I have no eloquent finale, only thanks to those who were caring for and loving me that day.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 5:57 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.