The Virginia Tech Tragedy And My Personal Tragedy

The Virginia Tech is a story of tragedy.

What's your story? Do you have troubles? Are you facing tragedy? Do you want to learn? Being challenged gives you the opportunity to learn and grow. This story will challenge you. You may find it hard to believe, yet the details can be verified. This story of tragedy comes in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech Tragedy-dubbed "the worst U.S. massacre in history." From this universally known tragedy and from the 10 stages of my personal tragedy comes 10 key lessons to learn-life lessons that will help you grow; lessons that will help you learn to prevail, no matter what you may face. Join me in this journey and learn with me! Charles Pugh has served as a campus minister at Virginia Tech for over ten years. He led in organizing a 2002 Creation vs. Evolution Debate at Virginia Tech and in establishing and ministering through ESL Classes to help hundreds of International students. He is a 1992 (ThB) and 2002 (MM) graduate of Piedmont Bible College in Winston-Salem, NC. He has spoken and ministered at hundreds of churches over the years and more recently written numerous articles on his Lessons To Learn Website (www.vtlessonstolearn.com). Charles is available as GOD leads to speak for any willing group or church.

The world watched in horror in April 2007 when Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a killing rampage that resulted in the deaths of thirty-two students and faculty members before he ended his own life. Former Virginia Tech English department chair and distinguished professor Lucinda Roy saw the tragedy unfold on the TV screen in her home and had a terrible realization. Cho was the student she had struggled to get to know–the loner who found speech torturous. After he had been formally asked to leave a poetry class in which he had shared incendiary work that seemed directed at his classmates and teacher, Roy began the difficult task of working one-on-one with him in a poetry tutorial. During those months, a year and a half before the massacre, Roy came to realize that Cho was more than just a disgruntled young adult experimenting with poetic license; he was, in her opinion, seriously depressed and in urgent need of intervention. But when Roy approached campus counseling as well as others in the university about Cho, she was repeatedly told that they could not intervene unless a student sought counseling voluntarily. Eventually, Roy’s efforts to persuade Cho to seek help worked. Unbelievably, on the three occasions he contacted the counseling center staff, he did not receive a comprehensive evaluation by them–a startling discovery Roy learned about after Cho’s death. More revelations were to follow. After responding to questions from the media and handing over information to law enforcement as instructed by Virginia Tech, Roy was shunned by the administration. Papers documenting Cho’s interactions with campus counseling were lost. The university was suddenly on the defensive. Was the university, in fact, partially responsible for the tragedy because of the bureaucratic red tape involved in obtaining assistance for students with mental illness, or was it just, like many colleges, woefully underfunded and therefore underequipped to respond to such cases? Who was Seung-Hui Cho? Was he fully protected under the constitutional right to freedom of speech, or did his writing and behavior present serious potential threats that should have resulted in immediate intervention? How can we balance students’ individual freedom with the need to protect the community? These are the questions that have haunted Roy since that terrible day. No Right to Remain Silent is one teacher’s cri de coeur–her dire warning that given the same situation today, two years later, the ending would be no less terrifying and no less tragic.

"The Virginia Tech Massacre take readers on a journey examining the mental health vulnerabilities of youth transitioning to adulthood, the limitations of existing warning tools for violence, and local, regional, and national gaps in mental health service delivery across the United States. The book provides concrete and pragmatic recommendations for how to begin overhauling the delivery for mental health services"--

Are your violence prevention and mental health efforts on campus coordinated? Are all your campus professionals aware of the system for reporting information about students who may be in distress or at-risk for harming themselves or others? Is the information reviewed and acted on?Recent campus crises have highlighted that campus administrators will be judged by three things: What the campus was doing before the crisis, its immediate response during the crisis, and the follow-up after the crisis.Born out of the call by Virginia Tech’s Zenobia Hikes for urgent action to stem the tide of societal violence, and the NASPA “Enough is Enough” campaign (www.EnoughisEnoughcampaign.org) that she inspired, this book provides guidance on how to be proactive in preventing violence, and be prepared to provide a comprehensive response to a crisis. Enough is Enough presents first-hand accounts and experienced counsel from professionals who have lived through a violent incident, and continue to deal with its aftermath. They cover violence, suicide prevention, and mental health promotion in an integrated way, and offer a comprehensive plan to create a campus-wide system for collecting information about students at-risk for self-harm or violence toward others. The authors describe how to develop university-wide emergency plans, using the National Incident Management System template and involving a wide spectrum of campus services; how to create crisis response teams and victim liaison programs; offer recommendations about communication and the management of information; and address institutionally-appropriate and sensitive ways to achieve healing and recovery. The book is addressed to administrators, student affairs, services and mental health professionals, and counselors, on all the nation’s campuses, elementary through post-secondary. A Joint ACPA & NASPA Publication

In this timely and essential work, nationally acclaimed speaker and author Vincent J. Bove anthologizes his Sentinel Digest articles that examine the leadership crisis and culture of violence in America. From mass shootings and police-community tensions to racial discrimination and the immigration crisis, Bove chronicles our country's afflictions and champions the unsung community heroes who model moral character and integrity needed in a time of apathy. Reawakening America is an inspiring social and political commentary that speaks to the American spirit and encourages citizens to stand up to the corruption, deceit, violence and divisiveness that is plaguing the United States.

A Riveting Journey and Quest to Save Democracy From the flames of a Ku Klux Klan cross burning in his home’s front yard, to dealing with the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s assassination, to knowing and working with some of our nation’s most effective public servants, this book shares the passion of reasoned and reasonable people working together to resolve problems and meet opportunities at the global, national, state, and local levels. Highly praised, published columns dig into issues big and small, vital to those interested in improving their community, state, and nation. The book describes, praises, and encourages specific leaders of both parties in our extremely difficult task of making this democracy work for everyone. It concludes with a specific recommendation of action by the reader and others that, the author believes, could contribute to addressing not only the survival of the American dream, but embolden our effort to do so.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)