Photo proceeds to benefit Tech memorial fund

The Virginia Tech Athletic Department has partnered with www.HokiePhotos.com to raise money for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

HokiePhotos.com is a Web site developed and operated by the Tech Department of Athletics' contract partner, Replay Photos. The site features photos of last week's candlelight vigil and the convocation.

Profits from the sale of all Virginia Tech campus images will be donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. The photos are reproduced in three sizes: 9x12 inches, 12x16 and 15x20.

Meadowbrook Center dedicating 'Hokie Shelter'

According to a press release from the Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation, more than 100 Tech students have volunteered over the past six months at Meadowbrook to help paint, landscape and convert an outside storage building into a picnic shelter.

On Saturday, as part of the university's "Hometown Healing Project," students will return to Meadowbrook to plant maroon and orange flowers to remember the 32 students and faculty killed April 16. The planting will begin at 9:30 a.m. and all are welcome to help.

The Hokie Shelter dedication will take place at 11 a.m. during Meadowbrook Garden Day, an all-day community event.

Lincoln Terrace pupils holding Tech 'Tree-bute'

Lincoln Terrace Elementary first- and second-graders will celebrate National Arbor Day on Friday and honor Virginia Tech during a "Tree-bute" at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. At noon, the pupils, their teachers, volunteers and Hotel Roanoke's Care Committee will tie orange and maroon ribbons around trees at the hotel and have a tree planting ceremony.

Fla. student essay contest to honor Liviu Librescu

In Leon County, Fla., the local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women will honor Liviu Librescu, the Virginia Tech professor and Holocaust survivor who was killed in last week's shootings, with its student essay contest.

Students wrote essays that discussed the results of hatred and prejudice during the Holocaust by answering the question: What have we learned about tolerance and respect for others to ensure that the Holocaust won't happen today?

The contest is sponsored by the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony May 3. For more information, visit www.holocaustessayleonco.org.

Envoy urges Koreans to shed feelings of guilt

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. ambassador to Seoul urged South Koreans on Tuesday to set aside their culture of collective guilt and not feel responsibility for the slaying of 32 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech.

"It's not about Korea; it's not about Korean-Americans," said Ambassador Alexander Vershbow. "It's about one deranged individual."

Speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Vershbow said Koreans adhere to "a spirit of collective responsibility and collective guilt, which I hope is not going to prevail," he said.

Congressman: Changes needed in privacy law

WASHINGTON -- A lawmaker who also is a child psychologist wants Congress to better define when a university can release students' mental health information to their parents.

Last week's shootings at Virginia Tech shows the need for such legislation, said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa.

It is unclear what, if any, contact Virginia Tech had with Seung-Hui Cho's parents -- even after a professor removed him from class for violent writing and disruptive behavior.

Murphy said he would introduce a bill that would allow a university to notify a student's parents without fear of violating privacy laws if that student is deemed to be at risk of committing suicide, homicide or physical assault.