Tragedy at Virgina Tech

TRAGEDY AT VIRGINIA TECH -- (Senate - April 17, 2007)

Mr. DURBIN. First, Mr. President, let me say that every parent remembers when their kids left the nest. There is that moment when they finally reach that age where they are off to college. I can recall when Loretta and I took our three kids off to their colleges of choice. It was kind of an emotional moment, with mixed feelings: proud they had reached this point in their lives when they were off on their own,

sad that now they are leaving their little family setting that had been so familiar and so happy for so many years. But you knew if you were lucky enough as a parent to have attended college that they were facing an extraordinary personal opportunity to go to college and meet so many other students and expand their horizons and learn what it means to live on your own resources.

So that is why the tragedy of Virginia Tech is so sad, that the happy setting of college, where parents have entrusted their students to the university campus, can turn into a scene of horror as we found yesterday in Blacksburg, VA. We are all stunned and heartsick over the staggering and incomprehensible loss of life yesterday. We offer our deepest condolences to the families who lost precious sons and daughters in that shooting rampage, and to the victims who survived it.

As police search for clues, I hope those of us in Congress will come together to also search honestly for answers about what can be done to prevent another tragedy. This has been billed as the worst massacre in American history on a school or college campus. I can still recall 8 years ago in the room behind me, the cloakroom, when we heard of the Columbine shooting when 15 students lost their lives. In Blacksburg, the estimate is somewhere between 32 or 33 who have lost their lives. It is unspeakable to think about the placid setting of that college campus turning into a bloody scene yesterday morning. Now we will go about the grim task of identifying those who were injured and burying the remains of the ones who were killed as the Nation grieves with Virginia Tech University.

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