More Virginia Tech photos on Facebook
Posted on 11/08/2009 7:26:05 PM PST by HokieMom
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- As Americans scrambled to make sense of the life of Army psychiatrist Nidal M. Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 people and injured 38 more at Fort Hood, Tex., last week, one fact stood out for those living here: Hasan graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995.
"We were like, 'Oh, jeez, not again,' " said Liana Bayne, a freshman communications major who was in charge of writing about the shooting for the campus newspaper, the Collegiate Times. The paper's student editors quickly re-framed their story to reflect the school's connection to another tragedy.
It has been 2 1/2 years since the nation's deadliest massacre involving a single gunman unfolded on Virginia Tech's campus. That traumatic episode, in which senior Seung Hui Cho, who had a history of mental health problems, shot and killed 32 people before committing suicide, shocked the campus community and led to many months of investigation and debate about mental health care, campus security and the college's role in keeping tabs on its students -- a public relations nightmare that would threaten the reputation of any institution.
The grim news sometimes seems as if it won't stop coming: In January, a graduate student from China was decapitated by another graduate student with a kitchen knife as they sat drinking coffee in a campus cafe. In August, two students were found slain at a campground about 15 miles from campus. Police are still searching for a Tech student who disappeared outside a rock concert in Charlottesville in October. And now, Hasan's connection to the university.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What the heck?!
This is what we get for having a liberal arts and Liberal colleges.
A Chinese muslim. A foreign student. He attacked a Chinese woman he was assigned to be her mentor. She had only been here a very short time.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Nidal Malik Hasan’s connection with Virginia Tech
By Mark Owczarski
BLACKSBURG, Va., November 6, 2009 — Virginia Tech has confirmed with the United States Army Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., that the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, once attended Virginia Tech.
According to Virginia Tech records, Nidal Malik Hasan first enrolled at Virginia Tech for Summer Session II in 1992, and completed coursework in spring semester 1995. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He minored in biology and chemistry.
Prior to enrolling at Virginia Tech, Hasan was a student and completed coursework at Barstow Community College in Barstow, Calif., and at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va.
Hasan was not a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, nor was he a member of any ROTC program at Virginia Tech.
Contact Mark Owczarski at maowczar@vt.edu or (540) 231-5223
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=848
Early reports claimed that Hasan was a member of the Corps of Cadets. That report was in error.
The name of the school is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. I don’t think they consider themselves a liberal arts college, but I could be wrong.
I hadn't heard or read that.
This wasn't a tragedy. It was a mass murder, and it took place in what was essentially another so-called "gun-free" zone, just like they made Virginia Tech into.
650 students in one class. Some towns aren't that freaking big.
Good luck ever getting even one question answered.
And this is why my kid is going to a small home town university. Even though he's a little miffed about it. There was no way that I was sending my freshman student off to potentially drown in a sea of anonymity.
Perhaps that depersonalization is part of the problem.
<Perhaps that depersonalization is part of the problem.
It can be, but many big schools try to personalize the campus experience for their students. Schools have classes in the dorms, special programs for honors, language immersion, science, etc. The students take most or all of their classes together, and have small classes.
Look around and see if any of the bigger schools he is interested in has a program like this where people will know your son and the big school won’t seem so overwhelming.
We are still waiting on someone to fill in the gaps in his public record. Who selected this guy for Med School and a commission? We were not exactly hard up for people in the 90’s, did CAIR give him a boost? There is a lot of missing years on this guys bio and MSM is not looking very hard.
There were reports at the time that he is a Uighur like the man who decapitated the man on the Greyhound bus in Canada. I suppose that report could have been incorrect as well.
Oddly enough, the arresting officer was female:
By the time police arrived, Zhu was holding the woman's head in his hand, an officer testified."I saw a body lying and I saw a gentleman walking toward me with a head in his hand," testified Nicole Irvine of the Virginia Tech Police Department.
Irvine said he dropped the head when she ordered him to put his hands in the air.
Like Officer Kimberly Munley at Fort Hood. And it was a woman who took out the shooter at the church in Colorado.
ping
Why in the world was this guy in Barstow, CA? Was he enlisted back in the early 90s?
I’m speaking only from my perspective.
I went to one of those big schools, namely the University of Minnesota. Back then (the early 80’s), we did have the 300 - 500 student classes. However, they tended to be only certain entry-level classes like Psychology. There were other entry-level classes (like Political Science) that were only 100 students.
I lived in a dorm on campus and made friends there, some of whom I still keep in touch with. Others I made as I took advanced classes in my major. As I progressed further into my major, I saw the same students - and they saw me as well. That eliminated the anonymity feeling.
I occasionally had feelings of depersonalization during my years at the U but they were related more towards the way the campus administration looked at students during that time - essentially, it was “Pay your tuition - and shut up”. From what I see of the U now, that’s no longer the case.
He enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school, according to what I’ve read.
The only real gap I’ve seen is 1995-1997, but it’s a key one. It’s the time between his Virginia Tech graduation and entry into the Uniformed Services medical school. He may have re-enlisted, to improve his chances of getting into the “free” medical school, but if so, I don’t understand why we haven’t heard about it. And there’s just no way they admitted someone to the Uniformed Services medical school without documentation of what he was doing while he was applying. This info is being withheld for some reason, and it’s being withheld by the US military.
just plain weird
Seung-Hui Cho and Nidal Malik Hasan are from Northern Virginia. Cho was born in South Korea, while Hasan was born in Northern Virginia.
Hasan’s family is from Jordan originally?
The real gap is 1988 to 1995 after he graduated High School, I don’t think he was enlisted because he has almost no service ribbons. His official bio pic only show a National Service Ribbon, he should have gotten more than that if he was enlisted for 8 years, an Army Achievement medal at least or some kind of overseas service ribbon. Also, he has no jump wings or any other kind of qualification badge, you have got to do that stuff if you want to get promoted.
Hasan’s family are Palestinian.
Ok, thanks. From news reports, it seems many of them are fairly Americanized.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.