Last few day have been full of the terrible episode of killings of by 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui, this sparks an important debate in terms of mental health of students.
A debate that should have come much earlier and maybe could have prevented the deadliest one-man shooting rampages in U.S. history.
Cho Seung-Hui exhibited odd behavior but deciding if odd behavior adds up to mental illness, or presents a danger of suicide or violence against others, involves a network of factors.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects mentally ill people from discrimination, prevents campus officials from throwing someone out of school simply for being depressed or schizophrenic. If a student is clearly violating the campus’ code of conduct, however, suspension is an option
Just last month, Virginia passed the nation’s first law banning public colleges and universities from punishing or kicking out students solely because they tried to commit suicide or seek mental health treatment.
Previous killing and suicides have resulted in universities kicking students they suspected of being unstable off campus, either permanently or temporarily. However, these very students then sued the universities because they were kicked off the campus when they sought treatment for depression.
Then again even if a student seeks counseling, federal privacy laws bar the counselor from sharing information with other university professionals unless the student makes a specific threat. So the danger that such a person poses remains real and present. No wonder many of the students were afraid to go to colleges after the shoot out.
So what if you can identify the danger signs? What can you do beyond that? What we need here are definite means to identify people who may be under high stress and may be in trouble and then have rules that do not discriminate against them yet prevent them from being a danger to others. Mentors need to have a follow up system to check on such kids. Maybe as students, you can start by having more empathy for the person sitting next to you.
America’s young people face a mental health crisis. College counseling, center directors report an increase in students with severe psychological problems. Children are overwhelmed with pressures of growing up, fitting in and getting ahead creating a horde of mental health problems. Some more attention needs to be focused on this grave issue.
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