Two days after news of the worst shooting in U.S. history reached VCU’s campus, students are still trying to recover from the loss of more than 30 Virginia Tech students and faculty.
“It’s shocking,” freshman Jacob Vaughen said. “School’s supposed to be a sanctuary for learning.”
Vaughen is among hundreds of VCU students who have expressed their condolences for Tech by joining Facebook.com groups such as “VCU IS PRAYING FOR VIRGINA TECH” and “VCU supports Tech.”
So far, 131 groups have been created that deal with Monday’s shootings. And while many of these groups support the university, others aim to give students a place to voice rage against shooter Cho Seung-Hui.
Groups titled “Cho Seung-Hui is a coward and will rot in hell!” and “Cho Seung-Hui … a bonafide coward” have sprung up alongside more conciliatory groups.
Vaughen said online groups are popular because they increase student solidarity in times of crisis.
“It helps them (students) express their feelings when they join a group,” Vaughen said.
Chris Rizzuti, a criminal justice and homeland security double-major, founded the group, “VCU Stands with VT,” which has more than 100 members. Rizzuti, whose girlfriend goes to Tech, said he created the group after watching the fallout on TV.
“I’ve always felt that VCU and Tech were very similar colleges,” Rizzuti said. “I’ve always felt like we (VCU and Tech students) are just very similar people, and how could we show our support for people just like us?”
“School’s supposed to be a sanctuary for learning.” -Jacob Vaughen
Mary Akers, a junior marketing major, said she’s from the Blacksburg area where the shootings took place. Akers said she used Facebook to communicate with friends at Tech to confirm they were OK.
“My friend … goes to Tech, and she posted a note saying everyone was fine,” Akers said. “You never think it’s going to happen where you’re from.”
Sophomore Kristina Border said she wanted to actively support VCU’s sister university in its time of crisis. Facebook, she said, gave her a way to express herself.
“I’ve had a couple group requests since yesterday, and I’ve definitely accepted those,” Border said. “You just want to let people know that you are there to support them, no matter what.”
Not everyone is jumping on the Facebook bandwagon. Senior marketing major Scott Balridge said that instead of using the Internet, he has been privately mourning the shootings with his fiancZ, a student at Radford University.
Regardless of how he is coping, Baldridge said, the shock is still the same.
“It really threw me off,” Balridge said. “It’s hard to believe it even happened. It still hasn’t set in yet.”