By ,
Published January 13, 2015
FOX News correspondent Carol McKinley contacted Ed Falco, the playwriting professor for Cho Seung-Hui, who was responsible for killing at least 30 people on the Virginia Tech campus before turning the gun on himself on April 16. FOX News requested from Falco any copies of writings Cho may have completed that may provide a glimpse into his mind.
Falco on Wednesday provided a letter he wrote and circulated to his students. Falco said he has been wrestling with the tragedy on multiple levels. He said his students have been overwhelmed with guilt over not reporting Cho's behavior to officials. Below is a copy of that letter:
Dear Class —
I have heard from several of you at this point expressing your sense of heartbreak at having been in a class with Seung Cho. We all saw that he was troubled, and we all recognized the violence in his writing. I want you all to know that the English Department referred Seung Cho to the appropriate mental health authorities. We contacted the appropriate university officials. At one point, I'm told, we even contacted local police.
Cho's behavior was disturbing to all of us — and the English Department tried, with the best of intentions, to both get him help and to make the appropriate authorities aware of his disturbing behavior. We did all that we thought it was reasonable to do.
There was violence in Cho's writing — but there is a huge difference between writing about violence and behaving violently. We could not have known what he would do. We treated him like a fellow student, which is what he was. I believe the English Department behaved responsibly in response to him.
And please hear me when I say this: it was our responsibility, not yours. All you could have done was come to me, or some other administration or faculty member, with your concerns — and you would have been told that we were aware of Seung Cho, we were concerned about him, and we were doing what we believed was appropriate.
Look, all our hearts are broken. There's no need to add to the pain with guilt. Please, be assured, the English Department reported the violence in his writing to university and police officials, and we tried to get him help.
My heart goes out to all of you. Please know that you are all in my thoughts.
Ed Falco
https://www.foxnews.com/story/raw-data-letter-from-virginia-tech-gunmans-playwriting-professor-to-students