Many of the politicians who came to Virginia Tech
following the massacre, cried in front of the families and media, and then
worked to water down and undermine responsibility for campus safety at senior
levels. These efforts were clearly intended to reduce the liability of school
presidents and other top-level leaders.
One of the worst examples of this duplicity is
Virginia State Delegate David Nutter. Nutter was both an employee of Virginia
Tech and an elected official from Blacksburg in the Virginia House of
Delegates. Common sense would make you
think Nutter would be in the forefront of efforts to prevent school shootings.
But, Nutter proved common sense wrong.
Immediately after the shootings, Nutter met with the families, wept, and offered his sympathies.
But when it came to adopting measures to help strengthen school safety, Nutter
balked.
The prime example of his chicanery came nearly
three years after the massacre at Virginia Tech when the lower house of the
Virginia legislature significantly weakened state Senator John Edwards’ bill to
amend and reenact the Code of Virginia relating to crisis and emergency
management for public institutions of higher learning. Specifically, members of
the lower house took exception to university presidents and other school
officials having to certify they comprehend and understand the school’s
emergency plan—a plan that they play a role in creating. Here is the sentence
as it cleared and passed the senate unanimously:
“In addition, the members of the threat
assessment team, as defined …(by law)…, and the president and vice-president of
each institution of higher education, or in the case of the Virginia Military
Institute, the superintendent, shall annually certify in writing to the
Department of Emergency Management, comprehension and understanding of
the institution’s crisis and emergency management plan.”
Here is the sentence the lower house insisted on
and appears in the final bill:
“In addition, the president and vice-president of
each public institution of higher education, or in the case of the Virginia
Military Institute, the superintendent, shall annually (i) review the
institution’s crisis and emergency management plan; (ii) certify in writing
that the president and vice-president, or the superintendent, have reviewed the
plan; and (iii) make recommendations to the institution for appropriate changes
to the plan.”
Stop to think what members of the Virginia
legislature have done: they have said that presidents of the state’s colleges
and universities do not have to comprehend and understand a document that is
critical to the security of our children.
While the State Senate passed the original bill
unanimously, the House of Delegates objected. The two most ardent opponents of
the legislation—they wouldn’t vote for it in any form—were Delegates Nutter and
Charles Poindexter, a right-wing politician who tried to derail the
reappointment of Judge William Alexander, the judge who presided over the Pryde
and Peterson lawsuit against Virginia Tech President Steger.
If you read the official reports of both the
shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech, as we have, there is repeated
emphasis on schools’ security plans and the role of those plans in preventing
campus shootings. Now, according to the Virginia lower house, the presidents of
the state’s colleges and universities do not have to comprehend and understand those plans.
Clearly Nutter’s promises to the Virginia Tech
victims’ families weren’t worth very much.
When the state had a chance to do something, as little as it was, Nutter
refused to go along with the bill in any form.
Nutter is not alone. I will look at others in
future posts. (To be continued)
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