Virginia Tech Appeals $55K Shooting Rampage Fine

Just shy of one month after it was slapped with $55,000 in federal fines for waiting too long to notify that campus during the 2007 shooting rampage, Virginia Tech has filed an appeal. State AG Kenneth Cuccinelli yesterday called the Department of Education's findings "absolutely appalling," and explained an appeal was necessary to ensure the school was treated fairly. Virginia Tech has complained that it is being held to tougher standards than were actually in place the morning Seung-Hui Cho began shooting.

Cuccinelli agreed, calling the department's actions "Monday morning quarterbacking at its very worst." He said the school has been denied due process because it has been unable to obtain answers to its questions. "These federal bureaucrats have no problem harshly judging the decisions others had to make in a two-hour period of unimaginable crisis and stress. Yet in the comfort of their Washington offices, they take four years to arrive at a conclusion." (More Virginia Tech stories.)