Douglas Alexander: “The Governor of Virginia has asked our country to take a moment of silence to remember the tragedy this week at Virginia…”

“The Governor of Virginia has asked our country to take a moment of silence to remember the tragedy this week at Virginia Tech at noon today. It is also a good time for us to think about our responsibilities in the U.S. Congress. There is hardly any way we can express our grief to these families and to that university for what they have been through this week. It is of such a scale that it is hard to imagine. We want them to know we have been thinking about them, and we would like to do whatever we can to help them and to help make sure nothing like this happens again. So while Virginia Tech and the Commonwealth of Virginia are reviewing their responsibilities in light of the tragedy this week at Virginia Tech, we in the Federal Government ought to be reviewing our responsibilities too. Our focus should be on whether Federal laws or regulations unwisely restrict or limit how universities are able to deal with students who have mental health problems or who otherwise exhibit behavior about which parents, authorities, or other third parties should know.”