RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Tech broke federal campus security laws by waiting too long to notify students during a 2007 shooting rampage that left 33 dead, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
Virginia Tech disputed the finding, saying university officials met standards in effect at the time of the April 16, 2007, shootings by the mentally ill student gunman and that the U.S. Department of Education’s preliminary report is colored by “hindsight bias.”
The school could be fined for the violation unless the department revises its findings when it issues a final report.
The university has previously been criticized for not notifying the campus of the shootings sooner. The state has released its own report identifying apparent missteps.
The Department of Education said Tech violated the Clery Act’s requirement of a timely warning. About an hour and 20 minutes elapsed between the shootings of two students at a dormitory and an e-mail alert to the campus about a possible danger.
The university said that before the Tech shootings, the department had never defined what “timely” meant in the Clery Act. Tech said the standard in effect at the time allowed university officials to use their best judgment after consulting with law enforcement, which they did.
A national nonprofit organization, Security on Campus, had asked the department to investigate whether Tech violated the Clery Act.
