Students Dress As Vt Victims, Cause Outrage

[Mean Green 93-98]

This is just plain sick.

Students Dress as VT Victims, Cause Outrage

It started with a picture on Facebook and has now created a firestorm of outrage.

Two Penn State students, dressed as Virginia Tech shooting victims, at a Halloween party have enraged people from the Virginia Tech community, as well as the entire country.

10 On Your Side has seen all of the controversial pictures. They are of two Penn State students and are extremely graphic. Both are wearing Virginia Tech t-shirts and elaborate make-up. Both have bullet holes in their bodies.

Our decision not to show you the pictures is a result of our desire to be sensitive to a community that is still grieving. We also want to show respect to the shooting victims, their families, and their friends. Showing these pictures would serve no purpose.

We talked with one of the students who wore the costume. He said the outfits were worn to a small party and meant to be private.

"It's not that it was funny, it's that we are notorious and infamous in the state college, so we have to do things that push the envelope just for shock value," he said.

Penn State officials were quick to respond to the costumes.

"We are appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity, indifference, and lack of common decency and sense by dressing up in this manner," the school said.

"The fact that one of these individuals is actually from Virginia, makes it even more difficult to understand. Just because something is within the bounds of the Constitution and free speech, does not mean it should be undertaken. We certainly condemn these ugly and senseless actions. Most Penn Staters are as offended by this as anyone from Virginia Tech would be-- and rightfully so. These two people do not represent 90,000 Penn State students. They represent themselves."

After seeing the pictures, a Virginia Tech student created a Facebook group called, "People Against This Costume." Some of the upset members have left threatening messages to the Penn State students.

"This is a group of college students who now think it's trendy to be upset about their friends being killed," one of the two Penn State students who wore the costume said. "I don't know what they teach people in Virginia Tech, but at Penn State we don't learn to threaten people with murder to teach them that murdering is wrong."

He goes on to defend the pictures.

"The thing is, everybody's making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26 thousand that happen in America everyday," he said. "That's the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don't understand, when it all boils down to it, it's someone wearing a costume."

Reaction from Tech students and Blacksburg residents was disgust.

"That somebody would have the nerve to mock [the victims]. They were really good people," said local business owner, Carol Gwin.

Gwin knew three of the victims in the shootings and considered them cherished friends.

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[Eagle1855]

pretty tasteless.

Additionally I can't believe Penn State's enrollment is almost 90k. That's got to be the largest in the US, right?

[Quoner]

If I'm offended, these kids done f'ed up good.

I will say this though: After hearing nothing about the tragedy for most of the season outside of the first few weeks, watching and hearing about how VT's ACC championship game was all about honoring these kids was pretty much a beating. Football does not fix tragedies. Baseball didn't fix 9/11, LSU or the Saints didn't fix Katrina and VT winning a conference title didn't fix this. Seeing a good movie doesn't fix anything - how does any other entertainment venture do the same thing?

It's just a game.

[JesseMartin]

The only reason it's a big deal is because of the internet. Otherwise, VT and PSU probably wouldn't even know about the costumes. As they mentioned, it's free speech rights. Not like they showed up at a VT game wearing it.

And...I don't think PSU's campus enrollment is 90k, I think that includes "satellite schools". Up north they like to refer to it in the aggregate. It's like if UT included UTA, UTEP, UTSA, etc. in their enrollment. Trust me, their other campuses are tiny. Everybody in PA is so obsessed with PSU and UPenn that if they can't get in, they go to another school in the system. That's probably the stat they were referring to. UT and Ohio State have been competing for #1 in enrollment for years. They are both upwards of 50K. No way PSU got 40K more students at their main campus in the last year or two. The admin up there have the same small minds as the retards I went to school with.

[UNTflyer]

As they mentioned, it's free speech rights.

It's legal, but this has nothing to do with free speech rights. Free speech doesn't mean you can say what you want.

Let's not use constitutional rights to defend bad taste.

[JesseMartin]

Haha I know it's in bad taste...hell, even I wouldn't do that. And sometimes I try to be tasteless on purpose. It's disgustingly tacky, but there's nothing anyone can do about it, because if they wanna be tacky a-holes, as long as they stay within Constitutional limits, that's their crazy-ass right!

[Green Mean]

pretty tasteless.

Additionally I can't believe Penn State's enrollment is almost 90k. That's got to be the largest in the US, right?

Penn State's 90k enrollment is including grad students, part time, etc. I have a friend that goes to UCLA and their enrollment is 105k(including non full time students) and I believe that makes them the university which makes them the highest enrollment.

As of a couple of years ago the school with the largest full time enrollment was Ohio State at like 60k or 65k followed by UT with 53K I believe. Not sure what it is now.

Edited December 8, 2007 by Green Mean

[MeanGreenTeeth]

Free speech doesn't mean you can say what you want.

????

[KingDL1]

????

To some extent like slander and defamation of character.

Or yelling fire in a movie theater.

These guys were at a small party, it was not a big deal until the Internet and the news made it a big deal out of it. People need better things to worry about.

[Green92]

Bad taste shouldn't be news worthy.

[NT03]

I wonder is SABAN would rank this up there with things like 9/11 , Pearl Harbor and a Tide loss to ULM