Professor Pushed to Re-Open Norris Hall

Jun 09, 07:24 AM

Current Headlines: By SUE LINDSEY

By Sue Lindsey

The Associated Press

BLACKSBURG

Locked in the laboratories of the Virginia Tech classroom building where 31 people died in a mass shooting in April are the keys to the future - of graduate students and of an engineering program itself.

University officials announced this week that they will reopen Norris Hall later this month to allow engineering programs with offices and laboratories there to return to work, although no classes will meet in the building again. The building had been locked and barricaded with a chain-link fence since April 16, when student Seung-Hui Cho shot 30 people in its classrooms as well as himself after killing two in a dormitory.

Tech's specialized engineering science and mechanics department is the primary occupant of the three-story building. Department head Ishwar Puri said as his students fell further behind in their research, putting their funding and in some cases degrees in jeopardy, he made a plea to university officials to find laboratory space.

"I just didn't feel right holding their future hostage," he said . "Their careers are now on hold."

Not only are experiments in limbo and some students' degrees delayed, Puri said, but the whole program is stalled.

Laboratory space on campus is tight, graduate student Nathan Post said Friday, plus Norris contains needed equipment that could not be moved. Puri said the work of 50 graduate students and some undergraduate students has been held up, as well as research proposals of the department's 25 faculty members.

Post had tests under way in Norris on the durability of a lightweight composite material the U.S. Navy is getting ready to use in ship hulls. He may not be able to complete his doctorate in December as planned because of the delay.

"I am so far behind schedule now that I am not sure if it will be possible," he said.

Following the shootings, Virginia Tech officials heard from dozens of faculty, students, alumni and others who had suggestions for Norris' future that included tearing it down or making it a memorial.

Puri said his goal was to get his faculty and students back to work, whether in Norris or somewhere else.

The decision to reopen Norris was not purely pragmatic, Puri said.

Puri said he expects many students and faculty members to feel unsettled in Norris at first .

Still, both Puri and Post said returning to the laboratories will help students and staff with their emotional healing.

"I think that people don't realize how hard it has been for us," Puri said. "We're mentally drained. We're emotionally exhausted. We just want to get back to work."

(c) 2007 Virginian - Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.