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Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April I, 2007
32 murdered at Va. Tech
Coleman: 'We are all
saddened and horrified"
Police criticized for
silence after first shooting
Worst shooting rampage in
American history
Could it
happen
here?
By ANDREW GROSSMAN
Managing News Editor
For Virginia Tech student Erin
Sheehan, it was a morning that
would have seemed so familiar to
University of Michigan students: a
9 a.m. German class, some unsea-
sonable snow.
Then the shots came.By the time
a gunman had finished spraying
the classroom with bullets, Shee-
han was one of only four survivors
out of the 25 in the room, she told
the Virginia Tech student newspa-
per yesterday.
In Ann Arbor, as students tried
to make sense of the killings and
contact friends and family in
Blacksburg, Va., many wondered:
Could this happen here?
University of Michigan offi-
cials said that while campus police
could not be completely certain
that a similar attack could not hap-
pen here, Department of Public
Safety officers have been trained to
respond to such an incident. Uni-
versity President Mary Sue Cole-
man sought to reassure students in
an e-mail message to campus last
night.
"We are all saddened and horri-
fied by today's shooting tragedy at
Virginia Tech," she wrote.
University spokeswoman Kelly
Cunningham said Coleman, who
was traveling outside of Ann Arbor,
sent a private condolence message
to Virginia Tech President Charles
Steger yesterday.
Virginia Tech administration
and police were already being
criticized last night for failing to
close down campus after a 7:15
a.m. shooting in a dorm. More than
two hours later, a gunman opened
fire across campus in Norris Hall
- where Sheehan had German
class - and killed more than 30
students.
See 'U',RESPONSE, Page 9
Adayof
terror on
campus
By SHAILA DEWAN
The New York Times
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The gun-
shots were so slow and steady that
some students thought they came
from a nearby construction site,
until they saw the police officers
with rifles pointed at Norris Hall,
the engineering building at Vir-
ginia Tech.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
They went on and on, for what
seemed like 10 or 15 or 20 minutes,
an eternity with punctuation.
Bang. Bang. On the third floor of
Norris Hall, Scott L. Hendricks, a
professor, looked out the window of
his office and saw students crawl-
ing away from the building.
Bang. Tiffany Otey's account-
ing class crammed into an office
and locked themselves in, crying in
fright.
Every so often, the shots paused
for a minute or so. That was the
gunman, who was in the midst
of the worst shooting rampage
i American history, stopping to
reload. When it was over, 33 people,
including the gunman, were dead
and at least 15 more were injured.
"I was terrified," said Otey, a
junior whose class met in the room
above the one where much of the
shooting took place.
One student finished the day's
assignment and tried to leave, but
returned to tell the others that
the hall was full of smoke and that
there were police officers every-
where. The class decided to go into
a room with a lock. Hendricks, an
engineering and mechanics profes-
sor on the same floor, barricaded
himself in his office, pushing a
bookcase in front of the door. Some
students on campus took refuge in
the library, searching the Web to
find out what was happening. No
one knew.
See GUNSHOTS, Page 9
'O:^AP VIA TiHE ROANOUK IMES, BO TOM: SHAY ANIOLA/Daily
TOP: An unidentified person is carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech yesterday after a gunman opened fire in the building. At least 33 people including the.gunman
were killed. BOTTOM: LSA freshmen Danius Giedraltis and Dean Fefopoulosstand in shock as theywatch coverage of the kilings on CNN in Mary Markley Hall yesterday
afternoon.
ONCE, IT HAPPENED HERE
In 1981, agunman killed two in Bursley Hall
On April 17,1981,22-year-old University student Leo Kelly threw mul-
tiple Molotovococktails down a wing of Bursley Hall's Douglas House,
igniting small fires and prompting the evacuation offthe dormitory.
In the pandemonium that followed, Kelly went into his single occu-
pancy dorm room and reemerged in the hallway brandishing a sawed-
off, 12-gauge shotgun.
Kelly fired down the hallway, killing freshman Edward Siwik and resi-
dent advisor Douglas McGreaham, who were shot at point-blank range.
Policefound Kelly calm and coherent sitting on hisbed with the
recently discharged shotgun, and took him into
custody.
Randy Moon, another RA in ,,, t n t555 t '
Bursley, described the occur- E.0
rence as a "random shooting" g y 'tN0 Y,
and investigators were unable to *
determine any kind of motive for
Kelly's actions.-
Ajuryfound Kelly guiltyafter
a wee-longtrial. He was con-
demned to life in prison.
2
t.
.
'
.
4.
5
L
NATIONAL STUDENT LOAN SCANDAL
'U': No 'preferred lenders'
a V I
TASTY PROTEST
As national scandal SELEC
swirls, On April
websites preferre
hastily changed April 8
ByGABE NELSON
DailyNews Editor
Up until recently, visitors to the *I
Ross School of Business's finan-
cial aid website might have found
information about student loans
for international students on a
page that said "Citibank is the pre-
ferred lender for Ross Business
School Students." April 13
Sometime last week, that sen-
tence disappeared. The rest of the
page remained intact.
As an investigation by the tr
office of New York Attorney Gen-
eral Andrew Cuomo continues
to uncover corrupt practices in
the ways colleges recommend
loan companies to their students, .
at least two University units
- including the Business School ,
- have made changes to the word- C~ t]
ing of their financial aid literature
and stopped calling the Universi- the Un
ty's recommended loan companies said th
"preferred lenders." tain pr
The website changes and a indicat
statement released on April 11 by to dist
TIVE EDITING
8, the Ross School of Business's financial aid website listed Citibank as a
dender.On April 13, that listing was gone.
Itianr rS tle pree ed t ender Reoyn's Hules=s Scevol eetsd
No tredit check orte signer required no rsantee of appiltation tee
L ean amount up to the cost or ettendltte Onus ehol5rsHriireCt Lon ,
Prime rate 0.00% interest rate is variable &adjusted uerterly)
Pe'rnipal & interest may be deferred whle student is enrolled. bterest wll u
6-ointh defterment after graduation
Up to 2C year repayfmert
bn .wa s 3g
At MESA,
a change in
philosophy
New director's vision
draws some criticism
By AMANDA MARKOWITZ
Daily StaffReporter
Nelson Acosta, a new director
of the University's Office of Multi-
Ethnic Student Affairs, is working
to change the office's focus.
Acosta wants MESA programs
to encompass all types of people on
campus, rather than planning activ-
ities devoted to individual multicul-
tural groups. He said MESA was
never supposed to be an organiza-
tion devoted solely to multi-ethnic
students, but ithas beenhistorically
perceived that way.
"I think we need to move away
from those perceptions," Acosta
said. "Our primary mission in high-
er education is to raise everybody's
consciousness about diversity."
Acosta became the director of
MESA in August 2006 after holding
various administrative positions at
See MESA, Page 8
iversity News Service that doing Cuomo's investigation has
e University does not main- uncovered at dozens of universi-
eferred lender lists seem to ties nationwide. The University
e a desire by the University has not yet been implicated in the
ance itself from the wrong- See LENDERS, Page 8
LSA senior Reme Ramadasu (left), Rackham student Adam Mele (center) and
Lecturer Margaretha Sudarsih (right) share an ice cream cake on the Diag yes-
terday for their last Indonesian class. Some lecturers held class on Diag to tell
students about their contract negotiations. For full story, see page 8.
TODAY'S HI: 56
WEATHER LO:3
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