Take Care About Uphold Patient or Report Student

In light of recent school shootings, the debate between students’ privacy and students’ safety continued to rage. The lessons learned from Virginia Tech were that documented incidents of harassment and aggressive, anti-social behavior should never be ignored. Apparently, the assailant, Sueng Hui-Cho had run-ins with female students and college instructors that prompted fear around campus. One professor, Nikki Giovanni, addressed the administration with her concerns. The administration ordered Cho to have a psychological and mental evaluation. However, they failed to follow up after issuing the directive. Cho wasn’t suspended or expelled. He gained entry, like any other student and proceeded to committ the worst act of school violence in U.S. history.

When two students and a teacher were killed at Louisiana Tech, the privacy versus safety issue emerged again. An alleged, love triangle turned deadly as a teacher shot to death a couple, and then killed herself. Other students noticed the romantic rivalry. Unfortunately, awareness came too late and three people are now dead. The two cases showed campus students and their administrations not working together. When counselors get reports on troubled students, they’re supposed to make judgments with the students’ concerns in mind. Potential victims should be more of counselors’ concerns.      Lessons taught at Virginia Tech and Louisiana Tech showed the dangers of ignoring warning signs. But, in two other cases, warning signs were heeded. Lives were saved.

In Louisville, Kentucky, a student attempted to enter a campus building carrying a handgun. Security detained him and notified the police. The assailant was disarmed. Later, investigators uncovered a horrific plot. After already killing his parents and a sibling, the suspect wanted to  perpretrate a Columbine-type shooting on the University of Louisville campus. An emergency alert was implemented at campuses nationwide following the Virginia Tech massacre. Campus security/police was armed and trained for this kind of situation. Only three died in this case. None were killed on university grounds.

In Windsor Heights (Des Moines), Iowa, a male student was arrested before going back to the University of Northern Iowa. Authorities found a handgun on him. During the investigation, an ex-girlfriend told detectives that he threatened to confront her. She also said that he was armed. The student confessed to phone harassment and weapons charges. UNI expelled him after the arrest. No one in this situation was injured or killed.

The Louisville and Windsor Heights arrests showed campus authorities, students and law enforcement working together. In the first two cases, 35 people were killed and over 20 were wounded. In the last two cases, only three people, none being students or faculty, died. It took one great tragedy for some precautions to be created. A student’s mental and psychological evaluation aren’t public record. However, they can be used by campus authorities to alleviate the dangers of ones who are mentally unstable. The measure came too late for Virginia and Louisiana. However, with new policies in place, crimes like that won’t be repeated with more families to be left grieving.