Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones oral history interview, 2020 May 20
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Manuel A. Perez-Quinones shares his experience as a professor in the Department of Software and Information Systems at UNC Charlotte on April 30th, 2019. Dr. Perez-Quinones and his partner were both employed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) during the deadliest school shooting in the United States in April of 2007. He discusses his personal experience with the Virginia Tech shootings and the traumatic impact it had on the Blacksburg, Virginia community. Dr. Perez-Quinones recalls what he was doing upon learning of the shooting on UNC Charlotte's campus and how the events at Virginia Tech impacted his actions over the next few hours, such as checking in with colleagues and making himself available because of his experience at Virginia Tech. Because of his connection with the 2007 shootings, Dr. Perez-Quinones was asked to sit on the UNC Charlotte Remembrance Commission, which held public forums surrounding how to acknowledge and remember the events of April 30th and the loss of student life. He reflects on campus change since the shooting, noting the increase in trauma and anxiety felt by students, and concludes by observing that while the expressions of support from outside of the University were heartfelt, it remains difficult to process that classrooms are not protected spaces for students.
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