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[beacon1]

I know the the VT incident is very fresh on everyones minds. It is shocking, horrible, unjustifiable, heinous, senseless... there are simply not enough words to describe the horror. For me personally, I have had a knot in my stomach for the last few days and am struck by an overwhelming feeling of disgust.

My question for all (as it is relevant for the diversity community) is what responsibility does the university have for assuring that people of various cultures can acclimate to campus life/ American customs?

This question is not to cast blame and not to say that the shooter didn't have many motives for carring out such an act. It is obvious that the shooter was mentally ill, had access to weapons, and the system failed to notice his instability. It does bring up the idea that "not fitting in" to Western culture certainly influenced his already unstable personality.

Does the university have a responsibility to not only to assure diversity but also acculturation?

[helpful]

Don't forget he grew up from age 8 in the suburbs of Washington, so he went to elementary and high school there.

[beacon1]

Didn't know that. Does the school system have an equal responsibility? or is it a non issue in this case?

[spork]

Don't forget he grew up from age 8 in the suburbs of Washington, so he went to elementary and high school there.

Yes, that DC culture -- DC used to be the homicide capital of the USA.  Obviously a source of violent tendencies.

[beacon1]

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Long before he snapped, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was picked on, pushed around and laughed at over his shyness and the strange way he talked when he was a schoolboy in the Washington suburbs, former classmates say.
Chris Davids, a Virginia Tech senior who graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., with Cho in 2003, recalled that the South Korean immigrant almost never opened his mouth and would ignore attempts to strike up a conversation.

Once, in English class, the teacher had the students read aloud, and when it was Cho's turn, he just looked down in silence, Davids recalled. Finally, after the teacher threatened him with an F for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded "like he had something in his mouth," Davids said.

"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China,'" Davids said.