33 Dead at Virginia Tech

The recent attack at Virginia Tech has struck me in my core. As someone who works at a University, I have always felt that it would be exceptionally easy to terrorize our nation by targeting a college or university campus. In academia we have open campuses. It's easy for anyone to walk onto most campuses and to do pretty much anything. It's part of our pedagogical culture. We hold this idea that the halls of learning should be available and welcoming. So this recent attack at Virginia Tech was particularly horrifying for me. As a college professor, I am frequently frustrated and annoyed with my students, but they are still my students. I am in a role that forces me to fell protective of them and I cannot help but experience great sorrow at the deaths of the 33 young adults at Virginia Tech. Perhaps this will also signify a loss of innocence in the ivory tower, as we are forced realized that we are not set apart as we once were, that we are not an inviolate and protected castle on a hill. Maybe we will bunker down and move away from our earlier conception of our mission, and begin keep people off our campuses. Or perhaps we will shake our heads and say the right things and move on to business as usual.

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