Customer Reviews

No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Speaking the truth is a first step toward healing, toward wholeness. Chilling, thought-provoking, and touching, Lucinda Roy's No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech offers truth at every turn. I was astonished and deeply moved by this former English Department Chair and Distinguished Professor's unflinching account of the frustrations of working on-on-one with student Seung-Hui Cho in a poetry tutorial after he had been formally removed from a class for writing and sharing threatening work about his classmates and teacher. Despite her repeated efforts to get Cho to seek professional help, she describes how ill-equipped her institution was to intervene and provide assistance to this seriously troubled young man before his killing rampage that ended in the deaths of thirty-two students and faculty members and the taking of his own life. This difficult story of the questions that have plagued Roy since that tragic day is filled with anguish, and with grace.

Roy speaks openly, with the authority of 30-plus years of teaching and administrative experience which have given her intimate knowledge of students, faculty, and administrators and of the personal and political challenges inherent in classrooms and university systems today. This book gives a detailed account of when, how, and why she and her English Department colleagues at Virginia Tech became concerned about Cho's disturbed and disturbing behavior, of the barriers and obstacles encountered in their repeated efforts to get him help, of how unresponsive and ineffective an overburdened, underfunded system was in addressing Cho's serious psychological problems and threatening behaviors. Following the tragedy, according to the author, the university shifted into defensive mode. Those in administrative positions at VT ignored critical questions about the way the situation had been handled before, during, and after the shooting, and used silence as a substitute for leadership.

In this book, Roy goes the distance, unafraid to reveal truths--sometimes troubling, often paradoxical--about herself and others working in an imperfect system. In the face of unspeakable tragedy, the author invites us to explore what might be learned from the horrifying occurrence at Virginia Tech. About guns. Violence. Media. Race and racism. Mental illness. Individual freedom. Community protection. Right to privacy. Teachers and students. Administrators and faculty. Parents and children. Writers and writing. Silence and speaking.

A pattern emerges in Roy's description of the current fabric of campus culture, where, as teachers know, chaos lurks behind the facade of order, the illusion of safety. Her story illustrates the high cost of speaking up about concerns regarding a student, and the (often) higher cost of not. She discusses potential threats to students and faculty on campuses, kinds of interventions necessary and legal and institutional barriers to getting them, difficulties balancing a student's right to privacy with the community's need to know, and how woefully underfunded and therefore underprepared schools are to address the myriad needs of mentally ill and other at-risk students who may pose a threat to themselves and/or others.

Roy argues convincingly that the tragedy the Virginia Tech campus experienced was "not an aberration but a mounting rage among a small minority of young people who see themselves as both victims and vigilantes" and warns that "if we don't make a concerted effort to address the root causes of this problem, some of these would-be student shooters are likely to see their biggest dreams come true." Challenging us to begin engaging in meaningful dialogue about these root causes, Roy writes "Through more open communication and a national commitment to education, it is possible to make... campuses safer than they currently are." I believe she's right. That's why I'm buying copies of No Right to Remain Silent for my English Department Chair, Dean, and Vice President of Student Affairs.

Deep down, all of us who teach know that the Virginia Tech tragedy could have happened--and could still happen--at any of our schools. Professor Roy's words resonate deeply, especially for those of us who have devoted our lives to teaching and learning with students. Rich in feeling, profound in insight, her story is one you will remember long after closing the book.

"No Right to Remain Silent" is a poignant, sincere depiction of Lucinda Roy's experiences with Seung-Hui Cho -- with a plea to stop the insanity and provide effective assistance for emotionally or mentally unstable students within our scholastic/collegiate systems. Lucinda's writing style is a very easy read -- with honesty, quick wit, and magical play on words, as well as allegories. Considering the solemn nature of No Right to Remain Silent -- I (with strained eyes from working too many long hours) enjoyed reading Professor Roy's account through her eyes of what happened preceding, during and after the massacre at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. This book is definitely a must read.

This is not how I intended to start writing these comments, but I read existing reviews prior to writing my own and I feel compelled to make two observatons before beginning:

1.Publishers Weekly review writes that he/she/whatever is frustrated that Roy would write so much about "....petty academic politics..." and my response to them is: PETTY academic politics? Thirty-one people were killed and twenty-some injured and you call what happened at the highest levels of administration PETTY? Lord have mercy.

2.I don't understand why so many contributors to this section reiterate the writer's storyline over and over and over. The professional reviewers give us the storyline before we even begin reading readers' reviews. We already know the storyline. What we want to know from your review is what YOU think of the book, not what it's about. Or are you hoping someone will read yours and hire you to be a professional reviewer?

Okay. Got that off my chest. Here's what I think of the book.

It knocked my socks off that it was such a compelling read. I hadn't expected that. Roy hooked me immediately with her utterly gifted way with words and narrative... her transparency... her pain... and courage. I for one am GLAD that she did not go into detail about Cho and the killings (like some common true crime story!). Her point of view was extremely gratifying to me. I couldn't put the book down. I needed to know what she so eloquently told me. God bless you, Lucinda Roy. If you have left V.T., I hope you have found another home you love just as much. Your talent, your heart, your skills are needed everywhere on this planet. This life has many different chapters. May the next chapter in your book of life bring you peace and comfort and joy.

Lucinda Roy's memoir, "No Right to Remain Silent" recapitulates the events, conditions and the Virginia Tech response to the mass shootings which occurred on the VT campus in April, 2007. It is also an analysis of her own role prior to the shootings and her personal response in their wake.

Professor Roy did not have to write this book. She should be honored for doing so and especially, for baring her soul. In the final section of the book, she provides a set of recommendations designed to help to prevent such an incident in the future. In this section of the book she tends to ramble although her heart is in the right place.

I highly recommend reading this book because it provides great insight into what it is like to be a member of the faculty of a large state university. As a professor of creative writing, Professor Roy finds herself in a position that few other members of the Virginia Tech faculty hold: she actually gets to know her students. Because of the insights gained through writing assignments and because at the time, she was English Department Chair, Professor Roy reaches out the troubled Cho. This occurs in a time frame approximately one and one-half years prior to the shootings. Thus, she serves as a "faculty advisor" in the true sense of the term to this highly troubled young man.

In hindsight, it seems obvious that Cho was a ticking time bomb, a troubled, angry and isolated young man with an inflated ego and paradoxically, a deep sense of inferiority. In this period, the critical requirement is for Professor Roy to convince Cho to voluntarily seek counseling for his problems. If Professor Roy's analysis of the situation is correct and complete, then it is clear that Virginia Tech failed this student. Most troubling is the fact that when Cho finally did seek help from the Cook Counseling Center(CCC) at Virginia Tech, he was turned away via a so-called "triage" process. Worse than that, there was never follow-up treatment either on-campus or off-campus, despite a judicial order that Cho receive treatment. Roy states in the book that Cho was actually treated one time but that according to the CCC, his "medical records were lost." Pathetic.

Virginia Tech's CCC should be held accountable for its failure. While there is no assurance that counseling or treatment could have or would have prevented Cho from becoming a mass shooter, the Center failed. It failed because it turned him away. The self-serving statement quoted in the book as put forth by Dr. Christopher Flynn, Director of the CCC is quite sufficient grounds for his dismissal. If the CCC was not there to provide counseling when a student seeks it and especially, in combination with many red flags, why even bother to have a counseling center?

Additional statements quoted in "No Right to Remain Silent," by University spokesman, Larry Hincker read like the comments made by "Squealer," the publicist pig of George Orwell's dystopian "Animal Farm." They are entirely self-serving and aimed at damage control. It is pretty obvious that the primary intent of the power-of-the-throne, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger was to "batten down the hatches." Charles Steger comes across as self-protective and self-serving, not much interested in the truth. Other university officials follwed his lead and fell into line.

I would like to have given "No Right To Remain Silent" five stars. Two reasons why I feel it comes up short: first, I am troubled by the fact that Professor Roy dismisses Cho's Korean-American status as a focus on race and ethnicity. Obviously, the vast majority of Koreans or Korean-Americans are not violent sociopaths any more than one would find in another goup. However, in this particular case, Cho's anomie, isolation, sense of being "the other" is central to his anger and vengefulness.

The second shortcoming of the book is that Professor Roy has neglected to provide any discussion or analysis of Cho's parents. Certainly the kindly Roy would want to spare anything else that would embarass, shame or hurt them. As his parents, their guilt and sorrow are already enormous. However, the thoughtful reader will find himself asking, did these parents know their son? Could these parents have predicted what their son might do? Was the Cho family dumping a disturbed and dangerous man onto a university campus? Had they sent a madman to Virginia Tech?

Dave Cullen's "Columbine" is a remarkable piece of journalism and storytelling which details the events leading to the tragedy at Columbine High, offers a detailed timeline of the shooting with stories of heartbreak and heroism, and even describes the fractured lives of the survivors and victims' families in the years following the massacre. I was expecting something similar from Dr. Roy's book about Virginia Tech, particularly since she was a member of the faculty and had actually worked quite closely with the gunman, but was disappointed, I guess, by my expectations. I knew it wouldn't quite be what I thought it was going to be when she introduced her book as a "memoir-critique," rather than a straight-forward examination of the tragedy itself.

It's only my opinion, but I felt Dr. Roy was at her best when she was writing as a whistleblower, detailing her attempts to help the student as he descended into madness, only to be let down by lackluster psychological services on campus, followed by the university's stonewalling of the investigation after the tragedy. Hearing from a voice from "the inside" and reading about the administration's dysfunction and malfunction was fascinating to read, and the midsection of the book was riveting.

However, there were sections where she described her personal life (such as her efforts to help students in war-torn Africa, or where she analyzes her favorite pieces of poetry), which I suppose helped her make connections between her life and what she experienced during the tragedy, which I'm sure was cathartic for her to write, but brought the narrative screeching to a halt for a reader outside of her self. There were also sections of the book that launched into "professor mode," where she discusses in great detail her teaching style and pedagogy and the merits of exorcism through writing; interesting, but out of place in context of the rest of the book.

I knocked off a few stars only because this wasn't the gritty, intense read I had been expecting from someone who lived the nightmare that April 16th at Virginia Tech, although it is an interesting indictment of academic bureaucratic red tape and students' rights. Dr. Roy is a talented writer, and there are passages that I read two or three times because the descriptions she created were so rich and unique, so I wish she could have applied that same grace and powerful writing to detail the massacre and share some of the stories of pain and heroism from the victims.

Recently I have read some of the books on Columbine given that it has been the 10th anniversary of that event. I'm not usually into "true crime" type books, preferring tame stuff like Harry Potter or uplifting biographies. This book gives an excellent, methodical and very readable account of the events surrounding the VT massacre along with a compelling and analytical look at the administrations response, or lack thereof. The author's descriptions of her interactions with Cho in her tutorial sessions were enlightening, her patience with him remarkable. She obviously gave him more "therapy" or at least empathy and understanding than the people at the counseling center he was referred to. One has to feel sorry for Cho after reading this and I'm glad at least someone tried to help him. As opposed to the somewhat disorganized style of the authors of the recent Columbine recountings (Cullen and Kass), this is well written and didn't give me a headache when I read it. Disturbing book but important for us to learn from.

It is seldom that a writer of serious fiction transfers those skills to a serious incident in real life. "In Cold Blood" might be an example.

I am a graduate of Virginia Tech, and have followed the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre in detail. Lucinda Roy's, "No Right to Remain Silent" explores the academic, bureaucratic, causal and deterministic matters surrounding the "Cho" massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007. It is written from her own personal contacts with Cho and her experiences with the principal player and the society in which he lived and died.

Given the recent (July 2009) amazing discovery of Cho's records from his triage interviews with the University's Counseling Center, her book reveals the anatomy of a moment surrounded by "nacht und nebel". Her book blows away the dark and mist. It is written with the courage and insight that the French writer, Zola, had in his famous series, "J'accuse".

"Emile Zola, a French writer, risked his career in 1898, when his "J'accuse" was published on the front page of the Paris daily, L'Aurore. The newspaper was run by Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President (Clemenceau became Prime Minister in 1917).

"Zola's "J'accuse" accused the highest bureaucratic levels of obstruction of justice regarding the controversial handling of a situation. As Zola was a leading French thinker, his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair.

"Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel in 1898, and was convicted, sentenced, and removed from the Legion of Honor. Zola fled to England. He was allowed to return in time to see the government's fall when public sentiment forced a change in the bureaucratic cover-up. (adapted from Wikipedia)

Lucinda Roy provides a factual narrative, unique because of her involvement, of events before and after the shootings. She also asks in many ways the difficult, perhaps unanswerable question of how future campus violence can be avoided. What affected me most in this powerful work was her grief, expressed throughout the book. Just read the last paragraph of Chapter 9.

When Nikki Giovanni want to her department chair to discuss a creative writing student whose poetry was so filled with rage that it frightened her and his classmates, that chair was Lucinda Roy. Removing Seung-Hui Cho from the class, Roy tutored him herself for the rest of the semester. As well as working with him on his writing, she repeatedly encouraged him to see help at the university's counseling center. She also wrote to the counseling center, the campus police, and others to say that she thought Cho was disturbed and possibly dangerous.

After she stepped down as chair and took a leave of absence, Roy thought that Cho had graduated. He had not, as she learned with the rest of the world when he shot two students in a dormitory and then killed 30 more people and himself in a classroom building.

Roy's book draws from her personal experience, as well as news accounts, the report of the state committee that investigated the shootings, and other works on student violence. As a teacher, an administrator, a writer, and a grieving human being, she offers a nuanced view. Although she was very frustrated by policies that prevented sharing information about this young man (because of privacy concerns) and an understaffed counseling center that would only talk to students were went in voluntarily, she does appreciate the values of privacy and autonomy. Cho's writing was scary and was a warning sign, but she knows that the great majority of students who write about violence are not themselves violent. She would like a way for high schools to share information about troubled youth with the colleges they go to -- but doesn't want young people labeled for life because of one minor incident. (She gives examples of schools throwing the book at students under policies that allow zero tolerance for violence -- e.g., a small boy who pretended a chicken wing was a gun.)

This is a well written book by Lucinda Roy. She worked

long and hard to help and get help for the troubled student who

later killed 32 classmates and teachers and wounded 25

others before killing himself. If only....

This beautifully written book will make you wonder what might have happened if any of a number of people had made a BETTER decision. Powerful and thought driven.

I have recommended this book to many friends, something I don't do often.