Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia has declared a day of mourning for Friday, and has named a retired state-police superintendent, W. Gerald Massengill, as the first member of a panel that will investigate the shootings at Virginia Tech.

How many members the panel will have, and how long they will be given for their investigation, has not yet been announced. Mr. Massengill told the Associated Press that the panel would need to consider how the Virginia Tech police responded to Monday’s events, whether college administrators and faculty members are qualified to identify students who pose risks to others, and how open college campuses should be.

Meanwhile, the university asked people wishing to make online donations in memory of the victims to use only the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund Web site. “Other Web sites soliciting donations may be fraudulent,” the university warned.

Donations to the Hokie Spirit fund will be used to cover costs of memorials, counseling, incidental expenses, and more, Virginia Tech said. The university also established a Web page for information about individual memorial services for those killed in the tragedy.

In addition, the university updated its growing list of colleges and universities that have posted or sent condolence messages. —Lawrence Biemiller