Steger was President during the Virginia Tech shootings of April 16, 2007, in which 32 people were killed and another 17 were injured by Seung-Hui Cho in two buildings on opposite sides of the sprawling campus. Cho's killings became the deadliest single-perpetrator civilian shooting in U.S. history. Steger called the shootings "a tragedy of monumental proportions." [3] In the report produced by a state appointed commission to review response by university, local, state, and federal agencies to the unfolding incident focused its criticism on the mental health system which failed Cho but also noted that "senior university administrators, acting as the emergency Policy Group, failed to issue an all-campus notification about the first two killings in a dormitory until almost two hours had elapsed. University practice may have conflicted with written policies." [4]
Nearly two-and-a-half hours after the first two killings, after leaving the Virginia Tech campus and walking to the Blacksburg Post Office to mail his manifesto to MSNBC, Cho chained the doors of Norris Hall and opened fire. He took the lives of 30 more students and faculty members before killing himself as police stormed the building.
Steger, along with several other Virginia Tech officials, was personally named a defendant in lawsuits filed against the Commonwealth of Virginia by the families of two of the deceased victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, though Steger was later dismissed from the case. [5] In 2012 Jurors in Montgomery County Circuit Court ruled that the state was negligent in the deaths of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson. The jury panel awarded the parents of Pryde and Peterson $4 million each. The court later reduced the amount to $100,000 per family. [6]
This judgement was overturned on appeal in a unanimous verdict by the Virginia Supreme Court on October 31, 2013. The justices wrote that “there was no duty for the Commonwealth to warn students about the potential for criminal acts by third parties. Therefore we will reverse the judgement of the circuit court.” [7]
References
- ↑ "Dr. Charles W. Steger Biography | Office of the President | Virginia Tech". Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ↑ "In memoriam: President Emeritus Charles W. Steger". May 7, 2018.
- ↑ Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "Statement by President Charles W. Steger." Archived 2007-04-18 at the Wayback Machine Last accessed April 17, 2007.
- ↑ "Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel". Office of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 2007-08-30. Archived from the original on 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ↑ Yancey, Dwayne (14 February 2012). "Judge denies request to keep Steger a defendant in VT lawsuits". Roanoke Times. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- ↑ du Lac, J. Freedom (31 October 2013). "Va. Supreme Court overturns verdict in wrongful death suit against Virginia Tech" . Retrieved 8 May 2018– via www.washingtonpost.com.
- ↑ "Virginia Supreme Court decision on Va. Tech". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
External links
Charles W. Steger | |
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 Steger in 2007 | |
| 15thPresident of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | |
| In office January 7, 2000 –May 31, 2014 |
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| International | |
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| National | |
