I would guess most of the students and all of the faculty. The incident was in the town of Appalachia, about 130 miles from Blacksburg, and I'm sure it was the top story on every local newscast and paper, followed by the investigations, the protests, and the lawsuits.
I should clarify that I heard about it here after the speech, hence my cynical reaction. That was what I thought when I heard it, as I’m sure many others did who didn’t know about the mining incident.
Apologies to all of you named Cletus and living in lean to’s :)