Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s horrific shooting has raised many questions. The biggest: How can we prevent this? UC President Robert C. Dynes believes he has the answer: relaxing current privacy laws regarding mental illness and giving school officials access to student mental health information for students.
Considering that Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman, had a long history of mental illness, it is understandable to look in this direction. However, this is a dangerous way to go about increasing security at UC campuses. Information about someone’s psychological past is incredibly private and could be used for the wrong purposes, such as discrimination or misdirected suspicion.
Dynes announced his idea when he spoke with the California State Senate Education Committee on May 2. Specifically, he wants to know which students have been committed against their will and which students are potentially threatening, arguing that the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (both federal laws) should be amended to allow school officials to exchange information about students with families, organizations and other staff.
However, it is possible that Cho would not have even appeared in Dynes’ proposed system. He was sent to an outpatient clinic, something that was not even revealed in a background check for gun purchases. Cho slipped through the current bureaucracy and there is no guarantee that Dynes’ plan would prevent that.
Federal law prohibits selling a gun to anyone who has been deemed a “”mental defective”” or who has been committed to an institution against his or her will. It makes sense to have this information available when dealing firearms, but not in relaton to school attendance. School officials should not be able to restrict someone’s education because they had psychological issues in the past.
Moreover, mental illness is usually not the best indicator that a student is dangerous – behavior is. Cho’s actions were signs of a troubled man; he was caught stalking women twice and an English professor wanted him kicked out of her class because he was so disturbing. Instead of taking action against him because of his mental health problems, he should have been punished for his illegal and threatening activities.
An unstable mental history is not what we should look out for. Mental illness is a medical issue that requires treatment and time, not continued pressure from school officials. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that those with mental illnesses rarely cause violence and are much more likely to be victims of violence themselves. Dynes does not want the names of students with past problems in order to recommend help, but, rather, to keep an eye on them. Even if Virginia Tech officials knew about Cho’s past, it would have done little to prevent the situation. A student should not be punished for past psychological treatment.
To be institutionalized, one must be deemed dangerous to him- or herself or others. Most often, involuntary commitment is to prevent suicide, and suicide attempts should not scar a student’s record and his or her university does not need to know.
Put the Virginia Tech shootings into perspective: The odds of a student being killed on campus are beyond unlikely – one in 1.7 million, according to the School Violence Resource Center. Lightning is a more common cause of death. For something so rare, it isn’t necessary to take such drastic steps for security while destroying student privacy in the process.
The problem at Virginia Tech was not that Cho passed through unnoticed – far from it. In fact, many knew he had problems. This points to a problem with the mental health system, not a lack of information. Security and communication were the larger problems in dealing with Cho and these areas could be improved. We need not go on a witch hunt aimed at students with mental illness.
What happened at Virginia Tech is a tragedy, but it was an exception. Events like this are extremely out of the ordinary. Dynes goal of releasing medical information won’t prevent mass murder. Instead, we should concentrate on expanding mental health services and allow students to help themselves. Psychological issues are deeply personal and Dynes shouldn’t intrude.
