Understanding tragedy

Tom Kaine, the governor of Virginia, is correct when he says that the panel he appointed to investigate the April 16 shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech should be made up of objective experts rather than anyone driven by emotion. Some of the family members of the 32 victims object, however, and have demanded a seat on the committee. The gubernatorial review board should listen to testimony from parents, should keep their process open and should make their findings available to parents and everyone else, but if the panel's goal is to study the tragedy from security, educational, psychological and legal points of view, then only those with specialized knowledge in those fields should sit on the panel.

The families may have more of an argument when they say that Virginia Tech hasn't consulted them with regards to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which has raised several million dollars to date. The parents charge that the university is using their children's names and pictures as a fundraising tool. The school seems to have a respectful memorial page listing the names of the victims with a link to another page that has biographies of the victims. There's also a page listing charities created or suggested by the families.

The committee itself appears frustrated because some of the medical and mental health information that they are trying to get about the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, is protected by privacy laws that are in effect despite his crime and suicide. That seems to me to be a matter that needs to be addressed via judicial appeal or the state legislature and not by venting at the medical professionals who have been called to testify and are upholding the law.