BLACKSBURG, Va. – U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is reinstating half of a fine against Virginia Tech for delayed warnings about a deadly campus shooting in April 2007.
The Education Department had asked Duncan to uphold a $55,000 fine that a judge dismissed in April. The judge had determined that university officials' actions didn't violate the federal Clery Act, which requires schools to issue timely warnings of campus threats.
In a ruling Thursday, Duncan wrote that Tech should pay $27,500 for waiting more than two hours to inform the campus of a fatal shooting of two students in a residence hall. By the time the warning was sent, a gunman was chaining the doors of a building where he killed 30 more people before committing suicide.
Virginia Tech could appeal the ruling.
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