2008 Woodie Awards
Experts speak about school violence
Christine Rochelle
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
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Police officers who had walked through the campus of Virginia Tech said that one of the hardest sounds to hear was of the cell phones ringing that belonged to the dead and wounded students.
Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman spoke to students, educators, police officers, military and emergency responders in the Nelly Goletti theatre this past Tuesday. The conference, "Crisis and Violence: Keeping schools and Campuses Safe," focused on the psychological cost of school and campus violence using examples such as Virginia Tech and Columbine High School.
"The ultimate achievement is the crime we can deter," said Grossman.
Grossman, who has appeared on TODAY and 20/20, founded a new science which he calls "killology." He has authored three books about killology which is described on his Web site as "the scholarly study of the destructive act."
Grossman said that campuses need to deter, detect and delay violence while erasing any denial about the possibility of a school killer.
"The enemy is denial," said Grossman. "Denial has no survival value."
Many rural areas believe violence is more likely at inner city schools but the majority of school shootings have taken place in rural areas, said Grossman.
"The most unprofessional words are 'don't worry it won't happen to us,'" said Grossman.
The retired West Point psychology professor and Army Ranger said that schools focus too heavily on fire drills and keeping up to fire codes instead of preventing school killings.
"Our citizens are a hundred times more likely to kill by violence than fire," said Grossman, who also said that a student has not died in a school fire in the past decade.
He continued to point out that many campuses do not have armed security guards or take any other violence prevention measures. Grossman said it is "insane" and "delusional" to have unarmed security guards.
Junior Kim Maddalena attended the conference and was "shocked" to realize how prepared students are for fire drills and unprepared students are for school violence.
Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman spoke to students, educators, police officers, military and emergency responders in the Nelly Goletti theatre this past Tuesday. The conference, "Crisis and Violence: Keeping schools and Campuses Safe," focused on the psychological cost of school and campus violence using examples such as Virginia Tech and Columbine High School.
"The ultimate achievement is the crime we can deter," said Grossman.
Grossman, who has appeared on TODAY and 20/20, founded a new science which he calls "killology." He has authored three books about killology which is described on his Web site as "the scholarly study of the destructive act."
Grossman said that campuses need to deter, detect and delay violence while erasing any denial about the possibility of a school killer.
"The enemy is denial," said Grossman. "Denial has no survival value."
Many rural areas believe violence is more likely at inner city schools but the majority of school shootings have taken place in rural areas, said Grossman.
"The most unprofessional words are 'don't worry it won't happen to us,'" said Grossman.
The retired West Point psychology professor and Army Ranger said that schools focus too heavily on fire drills and keeping up to fire codes instead of preventing school killings.
"Our citizens are a hundred times more likely to kill by violence than fire," said Grossman, who also said that a student has not died in a school fire in the past decade.
He continued to point out that many campuses do not have armed security guards or take any other violence prevention measures. Grossman said it is "insane" and "delusional" to have unarmed security guards.
Junior Kim Maddalena attended the conference and was "shocked" to realize how prepared students are for fire drills and unprepared students are for school violence.
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