Virginia Tech Shootings Panel Seeks Reforms
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James Joyner | Thursday, August 23, 2007 |
Forbes’ headline, “Va. Tech Shootings Panel Seeks Reforms to an AP report jumped out at me. Not because I much cared about the recommendations that the panel issued to ward off a more-or-less unpreventable, one-off tragedy but because of the sheer foregone conclusion that it represents.
Has ever a panel been assembled to investigate anything that didn’t recommend reforms? Even if everyone involved had done the most admirable job imaginable — which, admittedly, is seldom if ever true — the mere empaneling of a study group virtually demands that they find some flaws that must be corrected.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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This reminds me of some advice an accountant who specialized in IRS audits gave. He said always leave something small for the accountants to find. Otherwise they will have to keep digging until they find something.
The only way the panel could really be surprising would be to commit political suicide and say "cost benefit analysis for preventing another attack says we are better off the way we are" or if they provided some common sense "right to carry on campus would have probably reduced death toll significantly".
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