Friday, September 28, 2007
Governor cites Tech teacher's sacrifice
Liviu Librescu died while blocking his classroom door, thus saving other lives.
Gov. Tim Kaine has requested that Liviu Librescu, the Virginia Tech professor who died while blocking the door to his classroom on April 16, be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kaine sent a letter Tuesday to President Bush requesting that Librescu receive the award posthumously. In the letter, Kaine details Librescu's life before coming to Virginia Tech as a scholar and a Holocaust survivor.
"Possibly his greatest contribution to society was his fascination with actively solving problems, a passion that saved lives," part of the letter reads. "His final problem solved, Liviu Librescu's sacrifice of his own life allowed his students the freedom to live theirs."
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian award for "especially meritorious" service to national interest, world peace or "other significant public or private endeavors." It was established by President Harry Truman in 1945 to recognize service during World War II and re-established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to honor civilians during peacetime. About 400 people have received medals, which the president awards annually.
Librescu taught in Tech's department of engineering science and mechanics from 1985 until his death. The story of how the 76-year-old professor blocked the door of his second-floor classroom in Norris Hall and instructed his students to jump out of the windows to safety received worldwide attention and spurred a petition for Librescu to receive the medal. Department head Ishwar Puri said Thursday he signed that petition shortly after the shootings.
"I think that it is very fitting and I'm pleased that his bravery and his heroic actions have been recognized," Puri said.
He added that the bravery that day of another professor in his department, Kevin Granata, should also be remembered. Granata sheltered students in his third-floor office in Norris Hall and went down to the second floor to investigate the gunfire. He was shot and killed.
"They both fell serving the students," Puri said. "Service to our students is now etched indelibly in blood."
Kaine said Thursday that the idea of recommending Librescu for the medal "bubbled up somewhere" in his office shortly after the shootings.
"It was brought to me and I said, 'Yeah, I think that's a spectacular idea,' " Kaine said.
"His story of faith and a passionate attachment to freedom and then his willingness to sacrifice himself for his students is such a powerful story, and I know how much the Virginia Tech community loved Professor Librescu and how much they miss him serving," he said. "And I just thought who he was made him an excellent person to be nominated."
Kaine likened Librescu's credentials to those of civil rights lawyer Oliver Hill, a Virginia native who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. Hill, who spent most his childhood in Roanoke, died last month at the age of 100. He helped argue a series of lawsuits challenging racially segregated schools that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
"The kind of standard that Oliver Hill sets for an award like that, Professor Librescu is right there," Kaine said.
