BLACKSBURG, Va. – Still grieving, Virginia Tech students returned to their campus Sunday, preparing to salvage the final weeks of a semester eclipsed by violence.
The scene on campus resembled move-in day in late summer, with parents helping their children carry suitcases into dormitories. There were tears and hugs goodbye. But instead of excitement for the year ahead, there was simply determination to endure and regroup in the fall.
Last Monday, 23-year-old senior Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus before shooting himself to death.
When classes resume today, the university will give students three choices: They can continue their studies through the end of the semester next week, take a grade based on what they have done so far, or withdraw from a course without penalty.
“I want to go back. It’s just really strange to just stop going,” said Paul Deyerle, a sophomore from Roanoke who was helping a friend move belongings from the dormitory where another close friend, Ryan Clark, was among those killed.
A number of students living in West Ambler Johnston Hall have asked to be relocated elsewhere.
“I need to keep going back,” Deyerle said, struggling for words. “It seems like every other facet of my life is different now, so I have to.”
A number of students said they had been drawn to the comforts of home immediately after the shooting, but now were drawn back to the tight-knit Virginia Tech community.
“When we hit (Highway) 460 and we could see the campus, we both started crying,” said sophomore Ashleigh Shifflett, eating a picnic lunch with her sister Regan near memorials to the victims on the central campus lawn. “I was happy to see my family, but I felt like I needed to be here, and when I came back here, it was like I’m home.”
Administrators have canceled big events such as a spring football game and postponed a fundraising campaign. The goal is to begin restarting academic life but without pushing the university’s 26,000 students too hard.
“I don’t know what else you could do,” said John Rossi, chairman of the math department. “A student, I don’t know how much they’re going to be able to learn at this point. Maybe some can. But I think some students are just not going to be able to come, so why would you penalize them? There’s going to be some faculty dealing with that, too.”
Many returning students stopped by the campus lawn to visit memorials to the victims and sign posters of remembrance. A number attended religious services and were seen heading in and out of counseling centers.
Also Sunday, Dr. William Massello, the assistant state medical examiner based in Roanoke, said Cho died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his temple after firing enough shots to wound his 32 victims more than 100 times.
But there was nothing unusual about Cho’s autopsy, he said, and nothing that would have hinted at any psychological problems that might have led him to commit the worst shooting massacre in modern U.S. history.
Pathologists sent blood samples for toxicology testing to determine if Cho was on drugs at the time of his rampage, but Massello said it could take as long as two weeks to get results.
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