Students Commemorate Columbine Anniversary

In Littleton, Colo., a private school assembly, a public service and a candlelight vigil will be held today in memory of the students who died at Columbine High School exactly one year ago.

In the year since the shooting--in which two Columbine students killed 13 of their classmates before taking their own lives--three Harvard students have started organizations designed to change gun control laws and reduce violence in schools.

Colorado resident Michael T. Wahl '03, for example, says he will never forget turning on the television to "horrific" images of SWAT teams and a student trying to crawl out of a second-story window.

"Nobody knew the facts for a while," Wahl says. "We didn't know how many shooters there were, and I knew a couple of people who went [to Columbine]."

For Wahl, feelings of horror and uncertainty served to inspire an increased awareness about the debate over gun control legislation.

After reading statistics from several studies on violence in schools, Wahl founded Youth at Harvard Against Handgun Violence (YHAHV), an organization that focuses on the political aspects of gun control.

He cites a 1996 Center for Disease Control and Prevention report, which says 50 people die violently each year in American schools, and a Department of Education report, which says over 6,000 students were expelled in 1996-97 for bringing guns to public schools, as two of the most influential papers he read.

"When I arrived at Harvard in September, I expected to find some kind of violence prevention group on campus," Wahl says.

When he discovered none, Wahl organized a YHAHV introductory meeting that drew 15 other students interested in the cause.

Wahl says YHAHV's larger goal lies in branching out to the Harvard community to make an impact in the public policy arena--to "make a difference" rather than "just support" its cause.

Until now, however, the group's efforts have been more focused on educating students about gun control through speakers and discussions.

Founding a Foundation

Littleton resident Conor K. Gaughan '02 recalls the same painful "uncertainty" that Wahl says he felt when he first heard of the Columbine shooting.

"Initially I wondered, 'Who do I know that could have been in the building,'" says Gaughan. "There were a lot of siblings I knew [at Columbine] and kids I'd played with on sports teams."

Gaughan says that although he did not suffer the loss of close friends or relatives in the shooting, the incident motivated him to start a group dedicated to preventing youth violence.

"It didn't take long to know that I wanted to do something," Gaughan says. "[The Columbine shooting] was an event that hit close to home and made me feel that something needed to be addressed. The problem was to figure out what that 'something' was."

This past August, in cooperation with Matthew T. Daggett '02 and University of Dayton sophomore Mark Peterson, Gaughan founded the Daggett, Gaughan and Peterson (DGP) Youth Hope Foundation.

"After coming back to school and talking with [Gaughan], I realized...that his town was very similar to mine," Daggett says. "My own home was not immune this."

After many hours of developing and criticizing their own ideas, "We wrote up a business plan, incorporated ourselves and applied for non-profit status," Gaughan says.

DGP was given non-profit status early this year.

A Long Road Ahead

Though both organizations have made efforts to publicize their causes on campus, YHAHV has found political action difficult to organize.

A February meeting of the organization featured State Senator Cheryl Jacques, a leading proponent of gun control. And at the end of this month, YHAHV will be involved in an Institute of Politics debate. Wahl hopes either Connecticut State Representative Carolyn McCarthy or gun control lobbyist Sarah Brady will speak at the debate.

Despite the organization's efforts, Wahl admits the group's membership is still primarily composed of first-years and says the group lacks sufficient campus support to impact the political process.

"Our problem right now is not having enough recognition on the Harvard campus," Wahl says.

Wahl says students who have not had a dramatic experience involving school violence might not feel motivated to join such a group.

"I'm from Colorado and I would not be at all interested if it wasn't for Columbine," he says. "I'm not proud of that fact."

DGP's goals, on the other hand, have been oriented more towards public service.

In September, DGP launched its first project, entitled "RESPECT." DGP members began talking to teachers, social workers, parents and students in local schools about the incidence of youth violence and the need for respect between students.

"Kids at [Columbine] didn't respect themselves and clearly [gunners] Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris didn't respect the lives of anyone else," Gaughan says.

This summer, the DGP team plans to bicycle to different schools across the United States and educate middle school students about youth violence.

The RESPECT ride will begin in an East Coast city--likely Washington D.C. or Virginia Beach--and continue through cities such as Columbus, Ohio; Chicago; St.Louis; Denver; Salt Lake City, Utah; Las Vegas and San Francisco.

According to Daggett, the group also aims to set up a website about youth violence as a resource for teachers.

"We're working with several people at the Graduate School of Education [GSE] to connect with some of their curricula that are already set up so that teachers may access this website easily," Daggett says.

In a letter of recommendation for Gaughan and Daggett, Margo A. Welch, director of the Collaborative Integrated Services at the GSE, commended their "energy, determination to understand and to succeed, and the readiness to strengthen connections between people who can make a difference."

Both Gaughan and Daggett say they hope the RESPECT ride will motivate other students to initiate service projects of their own.

"Ideally, students in the Harvard community could lead future projects under our umbrella organization,"

Gaughan says. "After the RESPECT ride, we want to continue helping."

During intercession, for example, Daggett visited elementary schools in Honduras as part of a trip sponsored by DGP.

"I was able to, while in Honduras, deliver about 2,000 children's books to students there," Daggett says.

Wahl also says he hopes his efforts will inspire action from other Harvard students--and that, with the growth of YHAHV and other gun control groups across the nation, what Wahl calls the current "alienation and apathy" toward the issues of handgun violence will change.

Gaughan says he believes the birth of birth of organizations like DGP and YHAHV since the Columbine shootings is evidence that people are finally working to solve the problems of gun violence.

He says Harvard's groups hope to be just one part of a national solution.

In the materials DGP sends to schools and media groups regarding their project, Gaughan says, "The most

significant line reads 'We, the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. team are excited to be part of the solution.'"