It’s Better to Heal Together

By Suzanne Higgs

Since the shooting last year, there has been an outpouring of love and sympathy and gifts to our university from many individuals and groups. People have shown their care and concern in many different ways.

The most recent of the tributes came last month, when the New York Yankees came to our campus to play an exhibition game against the Virginia Tech baseball team at English Field, our home baseball field. Although I don’t wish to take anything away from the sentiment that was in the Yankees’ hearts, I was saddened that the game took place in such a small venue.

Holding the game in English Field, which has only 1,033 permanent seats in the stands, meant that the whole Hokie nation (not to mention the faculty and staff members) would not be able to see the game. I wish that the game could have been played somewhere that accommodates more people, like Lane Stadium, which has around 60,000 seats. The Dave Matthews Band concert in the fall was held there, and it was well received.

The limited number of tickets made it so that students had to scramble to get them, thus making it more about competing for the event than about bringing us all together. I, for one, never even received the e-mail to sign up to try and get a ticket.

I do want to thank the Yankees for the $1 million that they contributed to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. And I look forward to future events that will unite our community.

By Amy L. Kovac |  April 14, 2008; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Suzanne Higgs
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