September 1, 2012

Duncan's Ruling on Virginia Tech Fine Is Still Not the End of the Line

Arne Duncan

U.S. Education Department

Education Secretary Arne Duncan upheld an earlier Education Department decision, declaring that the university's warning of a gunman on the campus "was not disseminated within an appropriate time frame."

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U.S. Education Department

Education Secretary Arne Duncan upheld an earlier Education Department decision, declaring that the university's warning of a gunman on the campus "was not disseminated within an appropriate time frame."

By Sara Lipka

The question of whether anything could have been done to limit the loss of life at Virginia Tech more than five years ago lingers in public discussion. Reasonable judgments differ on how the university handled the first of two sets of shootings there on April 16, 2007. If officials had warned the campus earlier, would so many people have died later that morning?

On Friday afternoon the U.S. Department of Education issued its third