The costumes of Va. Tech shooting victims were intolerant, cruel and offensive, and the students wearing them were clearly doing so just for inflammatory, sleazy purposes.

But since when is a two in 42,000 ratio representative of the Penn State community? There's a better chance a Penn Stater will strike it rich on the Antiques Roadshow, and we aren't all proud owners of a Civil War-era commemorative plate.

This isn't the first time someone has worn an offensive costume.

Earlier this semester, students who dressed as gay Ku Klux Klan members and painted their faces black on Halloween drew a negative response. Even after The Daily Collegian's story on the controversial costumes, there was no national media coverage, a relatively quiet response from readers and nothing but silence from the Penn State administration.

In fact, the Va. Tech costumes didn't become a huge issue until university officials released a statement.

By doing so, the university gave the Halloween offenders exactly what they wanted -- attention.

Just look at Ohio State. There, two bartenders also dressed as Va. Tech victims. But those bartenders are still serving up cold ones, the national focus has found Penn State culpable for two irresponsible students' actions.

Most likely, Ohio State realized that it was not responsible for a student costume at a private, off-campus event, and Penn State should have reached the same conclusion.

There's no way the administration should bother dealing with the unpredictability of a couple Facebook photos. The school's job is not policing the Internet and offering pro bono public relations for the screw-ups of 42,000 college students.

Most damaging about the focus on Penn State is that it comes on the heels of a $110,000 donation presented in a ceremony at a men's basketball game to honor the victims of the Va. Tech victims. It comes eight months after Penn State students united at the Blue-White game to form a maroon-and-orange "VT" in Beaver Stadium.

"No one's done more than Penn State quite honestly," said Va. Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg at the ceremony two weeks ago.

Clearly, these two students do not represent the attitudes of us all.

But when Penn State speaks up in the midst of a personal controversy, the school makes it seem like the actions are common to the student body. Likewise, Penn State students responding in outrage should ignore the offenders.

When the only purpose of an action is shock value, forming an angry mob does nothing but give it an outlet.