1991 University of Iowa shooting
| University of Iowa shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.A |
| Date | Friday, November 1, 1991 (EST) |
Attack type | School shooting, murder-suicide |
| Weapons | .38-caliber revolver |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Gang Lu |
The University of Iowa shooting was a school shooting that occurred at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa on November 1, 1991. The gunman, 28-year-old Gang Lu, had killed four faculty members and one student. He later seriously wounded another student before he committed suicide.
Perpetrator and motives
The perpetrator of the shooting was 28-year-old Gang Lu (family name Lu; Chinese: 卢刚 Lú Gāng), a Chinese[1] former graduate student at the University of Iowa. Lu had received his doctoral degree from the university in May 1990.
In the months prior to the shooting, he wrote five letters explaining the reasons for his planned actions. According to university officials, four of the letters were in English and were intended to be mailed to news organizations. One letter was written in Chinese. The letters have never been released to the public. Lu was infuriated because his doctoral degree did not receive the prestigious D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize, which included a monetary award of $2,500. Winning the prize would have made it easier for Lu to have been hired in his highly competitive field.
The shooting
On Friday, November 1, 1991, former student Gang Lu entered the University of Iowa campus armed with a .38-caliber revolver. The shooting began in Van Allen Hall, where the physics and astronomy department was located. Lu killed Christoph K. Goertz, Dwight R. Nicholson, Robert Alan Smith, and Linhua Shan inside Van Allen Hall. Goertz, Nicholson, and Smith were all faculty in physics and astronomy. Linhua Shan, another Chinese physics student, was the winner of the D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize.
Lu then left Van Allen Hall and entered Jessup Hall, the main administration building. Lu asked to see T. Anne Cleary, the assistant vice president for academic affairs. Lu shot Cleary, who died the following day. He later shot Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, a temporary student employee, in the mouth; the bullet damaged her spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the neck down.[2] Lu then committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, as police had arrived at the campus. In 2008, Rodolfo-Sioson died of breast cancer at the age of 40.
The following day, November 2, a Saturday, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Football team, coached by Hayden Fry would honor those that were killed by stripping their game helmets of all markings in a symbolic gesture of mourning. The Hawkeyes would go on to win their game against Ohio State.
Popular culture
Writer Jo Ann Beard later wrote an acclaimed personal essay based in part on the killings. The essay, called "The Fourth State of Matter," was originally published in The New Yorker, appeared in the 1997 edition of Best American Essays, and was later included in her collection of personal essays, The Boys of My Youth. Beard worked as an editor for a physics journal at the university and was a colleague of the victims, working closely with several of them.
Based on Gang Lu's story, Chinese director Chen Shi-zheng made a feature film, Dark Matter, starring Liu Ye and Meryl Streep. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.[3]
A documentary about the life of the lone survivor, Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, entitled "Miya of the Quiet Strength," was released in 2009.
Preventing School Violence
Preventing school violence before it happens is easier and less expensive than dealing with it after it happens. There are many contributing causes to school violence and these contributing causes also cause other social problem including drug abuse and school drop out rates. The leading contributing causes include abuse at home that leads to dysfunctional behavior and bullying. When violence is not addressed early it often escalates. In order to solve these problems in the most effective way possible researchers believe it is necessary to address all the contributing causes. This means that if people solve School violence problems they will also solve other related problems both in and out of school. Some of the contributing causes happen off the school grounds so this should be a community effort. Researchers believe the most important way of preventing school violence is proper education at a young age. Studies have indicated that by third grade a pattern of learning develops that lasts through high school. [4] [5] Parents and teachers teach children to respect each other by treating them with respect and setting a good example. Another idea which has long been popular is creating and enforcing rules limiting the kind or degree of force students are allowed to use in various situations, e.g., self defense vs. running away, etc. [6] [7] [8] [9][10][11] [12]
References
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-07/magazine/tm-411_1_lu-gang
- ^ http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-12-11/article/31784?headline=Miya-Rodolfo-Sioson-1968-2008
- ^ Overbye, "A Tale of Power and Intrigue in the Lab, Based on Real Life."
- ^ Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, "Raising Cain: protecting the emotional life of boys" 1999 p.24
- ^ K.L. Alexandre and D.R. Etwisle "Achievement in the first two years of school: patterns and processes" Monographs of the society for research in child development 53, 2 (1988) serial 218
- ^ Alice Miller: The Drama of the Gifted Child 1981 p. xv
- ^ Gavin de Becker, Protecting the gift: keeping children and teenagers safe (and parents sane) 1999
- ^ Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt, No easy answers: the truth behind death at Columbine 2002
- ^ James Garbarino and Ellen deLara: "And words can hurt forever: how to protect adolescents from bullying, harassment, and emotional violence" 2002
- ^ Joanne Scaglione: Bully-proofing children 2006
- ^ James Garbarino: Lost Boys 1999
- ^ Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, "Raising Cain: protecting the emotional life of boys" 1999
External links
- Beard, Jo Ann (1997). "The Fourth State of Matter". The Boys of My Youth. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Eckhardt, Megan L. (November 1, 2001). "10 years later, U. Iowa remembers fatal day". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Efrati, Amir (November 1, 2002). "Recalling a snowy, blustery November day". The Daily Iowan (dailyiowan.com). Retrieved 2007-04-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Grabbe, Crockett (November 2, 1999). "A Tree of Legacies: The UI Murders 5 Years Later". crockett-grabbe@uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2006-07-25.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Marriott, Michel (November 3, 1991). "Gunman in Iowa Wrote of Plans In Five Letters". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-25.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Marriott, Michel (November 4, 1991). "Iowa Gunman Was Torn by Academic Challenge". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-25.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help) - Overbye, Dennis (March 27, 2007). "A Tale of Power and Intrigue in the Lab, Based on Real Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|accessyear=,|coauthors=, and|month=(help)