Virginia Tech: Reflection & Renewal

BLACKSBURG — With a promise that "they shall not be forgotten," 32 Virginia Tech students and teachers slain in April were remembered yesterday as thousands gathered to dedicate a memorial in their honor.

More than 10,000 students, family members, teachers and administrators took part in the ceremony, even as another school tragedy unfolded off campus: Five female Tech students were found unconscious from a carbon-monoxide leak in a Blacksburg apartment.

At the memorial dedication, a bell tolled 32 times in honor of those killed April 16 by student Seung-Hui Cho. As the bell tolled, up to 100 members of the victims' families sat beneath a tent, surrounded by the silent throng of thousands.

"They shared a love for learning and a love for this university," Tech President Charles W. Steger said earlier in the somber ceremony. "Each was gifted and talented and unique. They will be missed, and they shall not be forgotten.

"They will forever occupy a special place within the Virginia Tech family."

The memorial consists of 32 gray limestone blocks — known as Hokie stones — inscribed with the victims' names and arranged in a semicircle in front of Burruss Hall. A row of holly bushes runs inside the arc of stones.

Amid the 300-pound stones sits a lone stone inscribed with the words Tech professor and poet Nikki Giovanni used to rally the community in the days after the massacre: "We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech."

The memorial replaces a makeshift one that the student organization Hokies United created in the days after the massacre. That memorial contained 32 smaller stones that students took from a construction site on campus, and mourners piled flowers, cards and pictures around the stones for weeks.

Zenobia Hikes, vice president for student affairs, told the crowd that the new memorial will honor the dead forever.

"Each had accomplished much, but had much, much more to give," she said. "With our native limestone as the base, we have etched their names into the foundation of this great university. It is our special hope that in the future, all who walk this path will remember their special gifts … and their unrealized hopes."

Said Tech junior Adeel Khan, president of the undergraduate Student Government Association: "We love you, we miss you, and we would give anything for you to be able to be with us today."

The victims' families will be given the original stones from the makeshift memorial. Yesterday, as the bells tolled, representatives of the families each took a smaller ceremonial stone from the memorial and walked back in silence to their seats. Many in the crowd wept.

Joseph McFadden, president of the Graduate Student Assembly, said the memorial is also a tribute to the 25 who were wounded or injured during the shooting rampage.

"Your resilience has been remarkable," McFadden said, addressing the survivors. "The Hokie family stands by you today and tomorrow."

Many students moved in over a four-day period that ran from Wednesday through Saturday. Classes start today.