The facts: Virginia Tech’s court ruling demonstrated their negligence. In response, universities everywhere changed policies to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

Our opinion: Virginia Tech was negligent in these shootings, which had, and are still having, a direct impact on our current polices, as well as ones across the U.S.   

The recent court case involving Virginia Tech and the parents of two of the victims, Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson, in the 2007 shooting undoubtedly raised new questions. The money was awarded after the court’s decision that Virginia Tech’s negligence led to the wrongful deaths of the victims. The families were awarded $4 million each by the court, but the state has limited the amount to $100,000 each. According to the Washington Post, the parents said they are not concerned with the dollar amount of the award. “We were looking for truth… we persevered and we got some truth today,” Harry Pryde said.

Charles Steger , president of Virginia Tech, said the University did everything in its power to stop the deaths. However, the court’s decision did not reflect Steger’s sentiments. The University’s reluctance to intervene resulted in 32 deaths and a tragedy that will always be linked to Virginia Tech. 

In response to the incident, many universities revised their campus security policies, including the UNC System. N.C. State began a Violence Prevention and Threat Management program to combat any potential threats to the students and staff at the University. The UNC System requires a case manager at every university.

Tina Nelson, the program manager, is confident the University is doing the right thing. The UNC System has security requirements of each of its universities, but Nelson feels that N.C. State goes above and beyond what the UNC board laid out. Her role falls under the Environmental Health and Public Safety office, giving the program a more centralized location. Nelson provides training to behavior assessment teams, who are able to communicate concerns with the department.

N.C. State, along with universities around the country, have created and updated policies regarding student safety. This Threat Assessment division is meant to detect patterns early on, the reason Virginia Tech was found neglegent in the court fulling , so they may intervene well before an incident can take place. 

Physical system like the Wolf Alert system is tested every month, as well as ensures student contact can be made via text/email in the event of an incident. 

The precautions our University has taken ensures student safety, even though students might not see it on the surface. Students can walk around campus, in the middle of downtown Raleigh, and feel safe from any type of incident.

Behavior assessment teams and programs like the ones N.C. State has in place may have been key to preventing a tragedy like the Virginia Tech massacre. We should appreciate these developments in the wake of such a tragedy.