US Features
A chilling thought: college shooter could have been treated
By Chris Cermak Aug 31, 2007, 0:09 GMT
Washington - Cho Seung Hui, a 23-year-old student who killed 32 students at Virginia Tech this spring in the deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in US history, had a long past of mental illness.
Treating and monitoring Cho during his nearly four years on campus might have prevented the horrific massacre - a stark and chilling thought that raises serious questions about how mentally troubled teenagers and students should be cared for.
Yet that is the implicit conclusion of a state panel charged with investigating the deadly shootings in April on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, as it is officially known.
In what Virginia Governor Tim Kaine described as a 'hard-hitting' but 'fair' report released Thursday, the 10-member panel heavily criticized the university and state institutions for failing to address Cho's apparently long-standing mental health issues and red flags raised throughout his life and time on campus.
Cho, an English student and immigrant from South Korea, had been receiving psychiatric treatment during middle and high school in the US for an extreme shyness disorder, severe depression and a series of 'suicidal and homicidal' writings - some of which were apparently inspired by the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
His parents 'were well-aware that he was troubled' from an early age, and his school identified him as having 'special education needs.' It was even recommended that he not attend Virginia Tech with its 26,000 students because it was too large and far away from home, the panel writes in its report.
But none of these warning signs were passed on to Virginia Tech authorities or university counsellors. Cho was now an adult, and his special needs in school were not part of his college application.
'These positive influences ended when Cho graduated from high school,' the panel wrote. 'His multifaceted support system then disappeared, leaving a huge void.'
The panel struggled with how to address concerns about passing on such personal information - to what extent should a state and a university have the right to be informed about the mental health issues of an adult, albeit a young one?
Yet that does not hide a disturbing reality: the panel found that Cho was responding well to treatment - did well academically in high school - but lost that support when he entered university.
'There was an intense awareness ... that (Cho) was a very troubled young man,' Virginia Governor Kaine said. 'Unfortunately, none of that information ever got to Virginia Tech and I think that was a huge missed opportunity.'
Without treatment, Cho's behaviour steadily degenerated during his time at university, and the flurry of concerns reported by students and faculty at Virginia Tech have been well-documented - everything from the harassment of two female students, to suicidal tendencies, to violent class writings.
Cho was interviewed three times by campus police in a period of less than a month - over the harassment and suicide claims - from November to December 2005. That December he spent a night in a mental hospital and was ordered by a court the following day to undergo out- patient mental health treatment.
Yet the university's so-called Care Team - charged with identifying and monitoring troubled students - was unaware of Cho's contacts with police, or even of the court order.
The state viewed Virginia Tech's counselling centre as the point- place for treatment, yet never followed up. Cho appeared at the centre for one appointment, and never made another one. The counselling centre also never followed up.
Meanwhile, Cho's anti-social behaviour and violent writings in class continued. One of the writings from spring 2006 cited in the panel's report describes a fictional character, Bud, who wrestles with the idea of shooting students in a random classroom.
'No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots,' the panel wrote in its findings. The university's counselling centre 'failed for lack of resources, incorrect interpretation of privacy laws, and passivity.'
Virginia Tech President Charles Steger acknowledged that failures to pass on information had allowed Cho to slip through the cracks, but also said that a warning of Cho's mental health history before he came to college would have been 'invaluable.'
'We need some way of understanding a student's life before college,' Steger said. 'If we had known that context, the response probably would have been quite different.'
Another finding of the panel: 'Cho's family did not realize what was happening with him.'
Cho's parents were unaware of the student complaints, writings, police interviews, court appearances or time in a mental health facility. Cho never told his parents, and the university believed privacy laws prevented them from doing so.
'We would have taken him home and made him miss a semester to get this looked at ... but we just did not know ... about anything being wrong,' the panel quotes Cho's parents as saying.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
why should a university have take on the responsibility of what happened. where were the parents after he left his so called pre university counseling where he was doing so 'good' We have tied the hands of society with the bleeding heart attitude tha you have a right to privacy no matter what the consequences are. This is one result of that! I cant imagine anyone on a registration panel would have accepted this total misfit into college had they been aware of his past.! The civil liberties union would have been all over the universities case if they had tried to effectively intervened, & the bleeding heart press would have been right on top of crucifying the university too! ' Suppression of free speech etc, etc.
Well it looks like we can put another case in the books, because we now have finally found someone to blame. Good Job America for preserving your feedom to be safe again by pointing your red, white, and blue finger.
Please do not comment on this or any health matters about which you know nothing. Everybody always wants a 'solution' and everybody seems ready to presume how any tragedy could have been avoided, if only the world saw it there way. Perhaps it is this narrow-mindedness and anti-human attitude that causes such tragedies to manifest in troubled people. At least research supports my position ... how 'bout yours?
Furthermore, taking away civil liberties of humans will not help our social system to improve. If we want to know how to solve our tremendous social problems, we might look at other societies that are less violent--in other words, almost anywhere but here.
What a big surprise!
This Nutjob has such a long history and his parents play the fool, like they would've done seomthing had they known. C'mon, they knew he was wacked out, they wanted to look the other way like everyone else. And as far as treatable - doubtful. Hate to break the news to these idiot handwringing liberal reporters, but not everyone or everything can be 'fixed'. He was way twisted. This is not the time to Monday morning QB and think 'if we only woulda'.... How 'bout doing a report about what a despicable scumbag this kid was for what he did....
Yeah! He could have had the same pills that Owen Wilson was taking!
TREATMENT = PILLS (THAT DON'T WORK)...There are no success stories for the mentally ill. (but there is alot of money to be made. Cha Ching!)
The key question the panel ignored was 'Why was the parents not told of their son's mental problems? I think all other 'mistakes' follow that one.
...to a lead suppository, right up his ass.
These liberals hide behind this sickness diatribe because it avoids the obvious questions of campus security i.e. no armed guards. The fact is they'd rather see students dead than see a gun in their presence.
They will walk around, looking academic, driveling on about 'reform of campus procedures' or some crap, until exactly the moment when the press passes and go straight back to business as usual.
Gee - you think? What an obvious conclusion! Better than the ones who want to go around with a gun in place of a brain!
These results are total B.S.
E-mail warnings have nothing
to do with these gun shops
selling guns to anyone
for any price.
New York City has the toughest gun laws
in America
but they still have a lot of handgun murders.
why?
Most,
if not all these handguns
were bought in Virginia and Georgia.
These irresponsible gunshops should be sued right out of business.
E-mail warnings?
what's wrong with these people?
Are they that intellectually bankrupt
not to see the real reasons
for these murders?
Don't they read?
These gun shops sell to every scum bag
out there.
Let's place the responsibility
for these murders in New York City and Virginia Tech
were they lie,
with these totally irresponsible gun shops.
Good Luck
Guess what? Hollywood is releasing a movie soon titled 'SHOOT EM UP'. No one ever learns a damn thing, do they?
...everyone in New York gets their guns from Virginia! After all, the liberals would have you believe they ran around and took a poll!
'...good morning sir....do you have an illegal gun in the house? You do? Where did you get it? Oh...you drove to Virginia!'
Liberals are so scared of being wrong, they concoct facts to support their failed arguments.
By the way, whats of--king chilling about the fact that he could have had treatment?
bring more of these chinc's over here .
shoulda/coulda/ woulda
page: 1
MikeAug 31st, 2007 - 01:08:53
So...some wacko goes off the deep end and 'isn't a shame he could have been treated'. Well, yes, it is I guess. This sure is a great way to treat the families and loved ones this ordeal affected. Sorry your son/daughter/friend is dead, poor shooter could have been treated, isnt that sad?
Holy hell, don't you reporters have something better to cover...like a WAR? A soon to kick off presidential election? Thank God it will be Bush's turn to stand down soon, thankfully then all you smacktards can stop bashing Bush just because its the 'in' thing to do. Bunch of hacks.
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