The Creative Writing Professor...
...did the right thing, referring the shooter to counseling when his language in class assignments became psychotic.
The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service. ... [The department chair] said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. [The chair] refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.
As with the controversy last year about whether universities could, under disturbing enough conditions, insist that a student leave campus for awhile and get help, general as well as legal opinion seems to be on the side of non-interference. Remember the lawsuit at UD's George Washington University:
About 2 a.m. one sleepless night, sophomore Jordan Nott checked himself into George Washington University Hospital.
He was depressed, he said, and thinking about suicide.
Within a day and a half of arriving there, he got a letter from a GWU administrator saying his "endangering behavior" violated the code of student conduct. He faced possible suspension and expulsion from school, the letter said, unless he withdrew and deferred the charges while he got treatment.
In the meantime, he was barred from campus.
"It was like a stab in the back," he said. He felt they were telling him, "We're going to wipe our hands clean of you."
His response has college administrators around the country taking notice: Nott sued the university and individuals involved. The school violated federal law protecting Americans with disabilities, the complaint argues. The law covers mental as well as physical impairments.
In essence, it says the school betrayed him by sharing confidential treatment information and suspending him just when he most needed help.
In court documents filed this week, the university's attorneys defended the actions taken, denied that Nott was disabled and suggested that his conduct might bar his recovery. And they asked that the charges be dismissed for the individuals named -- mostly administrators and counselors. The university policies might seem impersonal, spokeswoman Tracy Schario said, but they are designed to keep both individuals and the community safe.
Suicidal students have always forced tough calls. But with shifting legal ground, growing threats of lawsuits and increasing numbers of troubled teenagers entering colleges, many administrators are even more worried about how to handle them.
The Virginia shooter "may have been taking medication for depression [and] was becoming increasingly violent and erratic." He'd been stalking women, and he'd set fire to a dorm room.
Responsible people at the university knew they had something dangerous on their hands. The university should have been able to remove him from campus.
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