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News
Christianity Today
CEO visits campus
-page 8
Sports
Men's volleyball triumphs at nationals
-page 9
Sports
Softball nears end of
season
-page 10
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Thursday, April 26,2007
Volume 82 • Number 21
Photo by Phil Mach
Professors at Virginia Tech expressed concern over student Seung Hui Cho's creative writing stones because of their violent nature. Professors at
Bethel are questioned about how violent is too violent in creative writing?
Cho Seung-Hi's history of violent
writing raises overall concerns
over creativity vs. instability debate
Professors share how they know when violent writing crosses the line
By Sarah Doss
In the days following the Virginia Tech tragedy, the violent
writings of shooter Cho Seung-Hi have been extensively analyzed
and reported. The same question lingers: Should faculty have taken
more action when these writings emerged in the classroom?
The severe degree of violent imagery displayed in Cho's short
stories and plays was enough to draw concern from- faculty members at Virginia Tech, but should the mere presence of violence in
a student's writing be enough
Teople tend to draw on traumatic
experiences in their writing, but
representations of violent imagery
ing signs.
-Mark Bruce
writer. "The mortality rate of characters in freshmen and sophomore writings is at an astonishing high," Horstman said, "but this of
course doesn't mean that these students are terrible people, it just
mainly deals with issues with craft. They don't know how to end the
story, so they kill off the character."
Only certain cases leave faculty to view a student's use of violence as more than self-expression.
"There have been some students whose use of violence bothered me," Horstman said, "but it
to cause concern? In writing
classes where students are encouraged to explore their emotions, the line between fiction
and realistic threat isn't easy to
discern.
This event has begun to cannot be seen specifically as warn
raise such questions for the creative writing faculty at Bethel,
who, by the nature of what they
teach, are occasionally exposed
to the darker thoughts and attitudes of their students.
"For students to be able to articulate their experiences, they
have to feel comfortable to explore their emotions," said Joey Horstman, associate professor and department chair of English, "and that
sometimes leads to uses of violence."
In creative writing classes, students are told to draw on their
feelings and experiences, which often opens opportunities for writings that display situations of violence and brutality.
"People tend to draw on traumatic experiences in iheir writing,"
said Mark Bruce, assistant professor of English, "but representations
of violent imagery cannot be seen specifically as warning signs."
Use of violence in writing might also be the sign of a novice
was mostly the kind of violence
they used."
Another red flag for faculty
is when the student's attitude on
paper extends out of the classroom, as was the case with Cho.
"One of the only ways I would
be worried is if these kinds of
violent writings connected with
violent actions," Bruce said.
The difficulty for professors
is finding ways to encourage
student's creativity while also
keeping violence to a minimum. One tactic facully use is io give
boundaries on students' use of violence. "I say 'no dead babies,'"
Horstman said, "and some professors tell their studenis not to kill
off more than one character per story."
Professors who teach creative writing must walk a fine line, encouraging self-expression while protecting the besl interests of their
students. The task seems impossible, especially following the events
at Virginia Tech, but the facully at Bethel will continue to teach and
protect their students to the best of their ability.
Analysis
Statistics show
downward
trend in school
shootings
Over the last decade school violence still
low compared to other forms of violence
By Monique Champeau
Though the Virginia Tech shootings were the deadliest in America's history, it actually marks a downward trend in school violence
over the last 10 years. Overall, there have been only 36 incidents of
school violence in the last decade,
Without downplaying the events on April 16, the number of
school shootings compared with the total number of schools in the
country shows the events are infrequent. This number is also low
compared to other types of violence in society.
"This type of unpredictable 'snapping' is rare... it's like a plane
crash. Driving is safer than flying, but people always hear about
plane crashes," said Jim Koch, director of Counseling Services. "It's
always big news...and people want that moment in the spotlight.
All this news is reinforcing how much attention you can get, and it
brings up old wounds for a loi of people."
Perhaps the most memorable event was the 1999 murder of 15
students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. It received
extensive press attention because the students, 17 and 18, had plotted to kill over 500 students and blow up the entire school after at
least a year of detailed planning. But this type of planned attack is
a rarity.
Thanks to added security and programs designed to allow students to talk openly about personal struggles, more incidents have
been stopped before they're carried out.
At Bethel, issues of confidentiality prevent school counselors
from reporting dangerous comments by students.
"There are a lot of disenfranchised people mad at the system,
but that doesn't mean they're all going to turn to violence," Koch
said. "We can look backward, but experts aren't saying how hard it
is to predict things like this.. .the less specific a threat is, the harder
it is to intervene."
"Most people with mental disorders are not violent. I'm afraid
those types of people, and international students, will be stereotyped unfairly [because of what's happened in Virginia]. They just
have a tougher time with things," Koch said.
Koch also mentioned that counselors nation-wide have seen an
increase in the number of young people experiencing the effects of
broken homes, substance or physical abuse, and trauma.
Facts
• Of those responsible, only about 5 percenl were mentally ill
or deemed unknowing of the consequences, including a few rare
instances of young children picking up a gun and firing it. In 2000,
a 6-year-old boy shot a peer in Michigan, raising concerns that such
a young child could have access to a gun, figure out how to fire it,
and be capable of killing a friend.
• Nineteen of 36 shootings in the last 10 years have taken place
in the spring, and the mean age of the killers is 14. All but five have
been teenagers.
• An overwhelming percentage of the shooters were described
as antisocial or suffering from some type of personal stress. At least
•four had undergone recent break-ups, one was involved in a gang,
and three killed for religious reasons. In 1997, a 16-year-old boy responsible for killing two studenis and his mother was described as
a "Satan-worshipper." Later that year, three were killed when a 14-
year-old opened fire on a prayer circle at his school in Kentucky.
• Another small percentage is made up of seemingly normal
students unable to deal with their anger. At least seven shootings in
the last 10 years have ended with the shooter committing suicide.
Students share reactions
to Virginia Tech tragedy
Interviews by Jonathon Svendsen
• "I felt a liule unsafe. 1 think there can be lonely people who
can do drastic things." -Jacqueline Mients, senior
• "I feel there's enough people on campus who are caring
enough that someone's depression or anger won't get that far."
-Lauren Pareigat, senior
• "Bethel has a really supportive environment." -Amy Arends,
freshman
• "1 think it's just a mailer of doing our best to keep our eyes
open to those who are in need of prayer or a friend." -Mary Velasco,
sophomore
• "I don't think it could happen here," -Patrick Dynan, fresh
man
• "I feel safe here at Bethel." -Seth Anderson, sophomore
Students at Liberty University in Virginia
urge forgiveness of Virginia Tech gunman
Liberty student givesn insight into fallout effect on Virginia campuses
By Anna Husted
Chrislian students across the United
Stales reacted to the shootings at Virginia
Tech with similar motives as students who
are not Christians, bul ihey slood oul in
prayer and forgiveness above others.
Holly Roush, a student at Liberty University, a Chrislian college in Lynchburg,
Va., roughly 70 miles from Virginia Tech
in Blacksburg, Va,, said the reaction of the
students in the dormitory where the first
shooling took place was described as shock
and an "inability to react during lhe situation and to comprehend the extent of the
situation."
Many schools had memorial services for those who died, and Liberty look a
special blood drive specifically for those
injured during the attack. The mother of
Cassie Bernall, a victim at Columbine High
School, spoke at Liberty's convocation service on April 20 concerning those who have
died in school shootings.
Although the nation observed a mo-
mem of silence at 11 a.m. on April 20, and
people offered up prayer in a time of need
for the families of ihose killed, Christians'
concerns go beyond lhe nation's. "Christian
sludents are equally concerned for the family of the guy lhat committed the murders
along with the victims," Roush said. She
also described Liberty's atmosphere as forgiving following the initial sense of fear.
"Since [the shootings], sludents from
multiple campuses.. .have shown respect by
wearing colors of Virginia Tech (orange and
maroon)," Roush said. "It will be interesting
to see how it continues after the media dies
down, to see if people are more condemning or if the Chrislian spirit in the community will live on."
Liberty University has a great sense of
concern for those directly affected by the
shootings and a motivation to speak up and
tell others about the need for God.
