RESPECT ?

As I watched the televised convocation services from Virginia Tech yesterday (Wednesday, April 17), I was puzzled. Would it not have been proper for the school officials in their address to the assembled group to acknowledge the President and Mrs. Bush in their preamble? None of the school administrators that I saw, including the President of the University, did so. The Governor of Virginia, in his address, acknowledged the President and Mrs. Bush. I would have thought that this simple act of respect would have been proper at all levels on any occasion.

Is this yet another example of the failure of higher education to set an example for respect and proper etiquette? I found this omission of acknowledgement offensive. I felt guilty that I was having this feeling amid the suffering and grief of this learned body. Nevertheless, I wondered if the absence of what I perceive to be a proper acknowledgments of the President and First Lady was perhaps, a deliberate omission. As badly as I feel for this terrible tragedy that has come upon the students and staff at this University, I also feel disappointment in its leadership.

A friend forward to me the following "blurb" "© 2007 WorldNetDaily.Com 'Speakers at the Virginia Tech convocation yesterday called on Allah and Buddha in their efforts to minister to the survivors, family and friends of victims of the shooting massacre at the school – but Jesus wasn't mentioned."

Perhaps I am alone, but I expected more from a well respected University. The tragedy of what has happened there is no excuse for these oversights, in my view.