BLACKSBURG Va.
A lawyer who ran the Sept. 11 victim compensation program will help Virginia Tech distribute its $7.1 million fund for victims of the mass shootings, university officials said Thursday.
University President Charles Steger said Washington, D.C., lawyer Kenneth Feinberg was approached because of his experience and because “we felt we did not have the capability to manage the fund properly.”
“We need someone with that experience to make sure we do it right,” Steger said. “As we got into it, we discovered that it is a very complicated enterprise.”
Feinberg served without pay for 33 months as special master of the government’s $7 billion federal victim compensation fund following the 2001 terrorist attacks. He will do the same for Virginia Tech.
Families of many of the 32 people killed by student Seung-Hui Cho on April 16 have said victims’ relatives should have more control over how donated money is used.
Feinberg said he will spend several weeks meeting with the families to listen to their ideas. He said he has been directed to act quickly, and anticipates the money will be distributed “well before Thanksgiving.”
