Any lessons from Virginia Tech?

• Author: Vatz, Richard E.
• Position: Psychology - The Virginia Tech tragedy

THE VIRGINIA TECH tragedy did not happen because of an obvious or single cause, and future such events will not be prevented by an obvious or single measure. Yet, this horrific slaughter of innocent students predictably raised excruciatingly difficult questions and set off vigorous debates on topics ranging from legal and university policies for handling suicidal or otherwise deeply troubled students to policies regarding gun regulations on and off campus to the role of the media in broadcasting the killer's self-aggrandizing tapes and photos designed by him to ensure his immortality. However, those who wish to use Virginia Tech to help them to achieve major policy changes will be footing themselves if they believe any such initiatives will transform the threat of this catastrophe recurring.

There simply is no mix of policies that will prevent a determined killer from repeating such crimes in universities, places of employment, or anywhere else in the U.S. However, because we cannot hope to prevent all such tragedies does not mean that we should not take this opportunity to examine seriously how we might--even marginally--reduce the risk of repetition. Moreover, it is important to consider the possibility that the chances of the incidence of aberrant violent behaviors may be increased by the decisions of major media outlets on what to put on the air in coveting the story of a mass murder.

Whatever one thinks of the killer, it is clear that he had serious problems--and for a very long time; yet, the mental health system was not able to identify him as the one out of many severely troubled individuals who actually would commit mass murder. The most consistent fact reported about Seung-Hui Cho was his uncommunicativeness, as was reported from a number of sources, including The New York Times, which printed a biographical piece and summary of events:

* Cho's disinclination to talk to others was manifested early in life in Seoul, South Korea, a behavioral pattern over which his mother agonized. He was so noncommunicative at Virginia Tech that some students believed him to have been a deaf mute.

* He had been bothering female students at Tech so much that they complained to campus police. Yet, anomalously claimed that Cho was "bothersome, but not threatening."

* He told his roommates that his girlfriend was a supermodel who lived in outer space and, he would, at times, introduce himself as "Question Mark," maintaining that it was the "persona of a man who lived on Mars and journeyed to Jupiter."

* After instant messaging a roommate with suicidal threats, Cho had been sent by the Tech campus police to a mental facility off campus, where it was recommended that he be committed involuntarily. A judge then ordered him to a psychiatric hospital, wherein he was diagnosed "as mentally ill but not an imminent threat [and he was allowed] to undergo outpatient treatment," which he may or may not have completed.

At times in American history, public policy over involuntary commitment easily would have permitted the mental health...