http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/03/25/100000-for-va-tech-shooting-victims/ The judge will see you now. Step into Springfield Bureau Chief Aaron Chambers’ chambers for an insider’s view on Illinois politics and government. No, Chambers isn’t a real judge. At least not in the sense of wearing a robe, wielding a gavel and issuing orders. But like a good judge, Chambers tells it like it is. Sun, 7 Sep 2008 18:37:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.4 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/03/25/100000-for-va-tech-shooting-victims/#comment-161 Bookworm Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:52:52 +0000 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/03/25/100000-for-va-tech-shooting-victims/#comment-161 It’s obviously too soon to tell what sort of legal action may ensure from the NIU tragedy, but here are a few thoughts that spring to mind: 1. The VT gunman was a current, continuing student at the time of the shootings. The NIU shooter had already graduated and had no current connection to the campus. Therefore, NIU had no reason to anticipate his prescence on campus that day. He did not communicate his intentions to anyone. 2. Several students and faculty had felt threatened by Cho’s disturbing behavior and attempted to raise flags about it long before the incident. Kazmierczak may have showed some indication of psychological issues but not anything threatening to others while he was at NIU. So NIU could not have known of his intentions in the way that VT could have, arguably, known or at least suspected Cho to be a danger. 3. VT did drop the ball when it came to notifying students of the first shooting at the dormitory. They failed to get the word out about it until nearly 2 hours later -- just in time for the second and more deadly shooting spree to begin. NIU, on the other hand, seems to have been very much on the ball and done everything humanly possible to warn students and apprehend the gunman (campus police were at Cole Hall in less than a minute if I remember correctly). Obviously they had learned from the VT incident and they seemed to be following what could be called best practices with regard to campus security. For these reasons I would anticipate that NIU will not be held to the same degree of liability for the shootings that VT has in its case. There are already some news stories indicating that is the case and no families/survivors are moving to sue. It’s obviously too soon to tell what sort of legal action may ensure from the NIU tragedy, but here are a few thoughts that spring to mind:
1. The VT gunman was a current, continuing student at the time of the shootings. The NIU shooter had already graduated and had no current connection to the campus. Therefore, NIU had no reason to anticipate his prescence on campus that day. He did not communicate his intentions to anyone.
2. Several students and faculty had felt threatened by Cho’s disturbing behavior and attempted to raise flags about it long before the incident. Kazmierczak may have showed some indication of psychological issues but not anything threatening to others while he was at NIU. So NIU could not have known of his intentions in the way that VT could have, arguably, known or at least suspected Cho to be a danger.
3. VT did drop the ball when it came to notifying students of the first shooting at the dormitory. They failed to get the word out about it until nearly 2 hours later — just in time for the second and more deadly shooting spree to begin. NIU, on the other hand, seems to have been very much on the ball and done everything humanly possible to warn students and apprehend the gunman (campus police were at Cole Hall in less than a minute if I remember correctly). Obviously they had learned from the VT incident and they seemed to be following what could be called best practices with regard to campus security.
For these reasons I would anticipate that NIU will not be held to the same degree of liability for the shootings that VT has in its case. There are already some news stories indicating that is the case and no families/survivors are moving to sue.

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