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Virginia Tech Fined $55K Over Shooting Rampage

Feds say officials did a poor job alerting campus to 2007 shooter

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 29, 2011 4:10 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Education Department has fined Virginia Tech the maximum allowable amount—$55,000—over how it handled the 2007 shooting rampage that left 33 people dead, reports the Richmond Times Dispatch. Federal officials say the university didn't warn the campus quickly enough: The school learned that two students had been shot to death in a dorm about 7:30am, but it didn't send out an email alert for another two hours—about the time Seung-Hui Cho began shooting most of his victims in an academic building.

The school plans to appeal, asserting that its actions “were well within the standards and practices in effect at that time.” The feds made clear they would have fined the university even more if they could have, notes the Washington Post: “Virginia Tech’s violations warrant a fine far in excess of what is currently permissible under the statute,” wrote an Education Department official.

A file photo of the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police, File)

File photo of a candlelight vigil for the victims. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

This image made from NBC on April 18, 2007, shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui; he mailed a package to the network before his assault. (AP Photo/NBC)

This video frame grab image taken from a video aired by NBC News on Thursday, April 19, 2007, shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui. (AP Photo/NBC)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 10 comments

Count-Spatula

Mar 30, 2011 4:39 AM CDT

I wrote a little poem. "Cynical academicians will merely raise VT's tuition."

Disillusioned

Mar 29, 2011 9:02 PM CDT

So they get fined 55K, That is somewhat akin to the Pope giving/granting forgiveness to the Pedophile Priests? They will take that out of petty cash and then charge it back to the students who continue to pay to be sitting ducks for the next stressed out nut bar they keep ignoring WTF is 55K to a place that spends much more than that replacing carpet in the Deans office? This is a damn shame

EddyTeach

Mar 29, 2011 4:58 PM CDT

If you're interested, the law that VT was in breach of was the Clery Act, which requires higher eds to make public important events or threats on campus within an appropriate amount of time. Schools get charged a flat fee of ~$12,500 for every violation, so safe to say they found a few at VT.

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Richmond Times Dispatch (Source Grid »)
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US • Crime & Courts

Virginia Tech • Seung-Hui Cho • Department of Education • school shooting

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Virginia Tech Fined $55K Over Shooting Rampage

Feds say officials did a poor job alerting campus to 2007 shooter

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Virginia Tech • Seung-Hui Cho • Department of Education • school shooting

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