I had my doubts about how Virginia Tech would respond to the April 16, 2007 tragedy.

At first, Hokie Nation seemed more concerned with protecting their brand than changing an environment that allowed a known disturbed individual like Seung-Hui Cho to have a state-subsidized college education and a dorm room to boot.

Damn the safety and security of others. We need to protect the rights of one, even if he was threatening girls, disrupting classes and not taking his meds.

I still would have liked to have seen more Tech students in Richmond this past session, clamoring for changes in privacy laws and more support for a beleaguered mental health system, rather than making the parents of the dead students handle that chore.

Instead of simply closing ranks, it appears many Blacksburg students have opened their hearts, logging more than 400,000 hours of community service through a program called VT Engaged. Good for them!

Continuing those good works after the shock of the Norris Hall massacre has waned and the eyewitnesses have graduated will be the true test of how seriously the proud Tech family is in honoring the memories of 32 kids and professors who all of us should never forget.