I take the point many have made that it’s foolish to think any one thing could have prevented the Virginia Tech shooting (we make that point in the editorial here). But how much deranged behavior does it take to get a kid removed from a college campus? Anyone who went to college encountered some bizarre and anti-social behavior–indeed, maybe partook of it–but this is on a different level. A few samples.

There’s this about Cho’s roommates:

But when he made crank calls to them, randomly snapped photos of women around campus, stalked their female friends and then threatened suicide when the cops were called, they said they knew he needed help. Andy said he told the police of Cho’s suicidal thoughts, “and they took him away to the counseling center for a night or two.”

This about his reading poetry in class:

The students once recited their poems in class. “It was like, ‘What are you trying to say here?’ It was more sinister,” she said.
Days later, seven of Giovanni’s 70 or so students showed up for a class. She asked them why the others didn’t show up and was told that they were afraid of Cho.
“Once I realized my class was scared, I knew I had to do something,” she said.

And this from the professor who, after that incident, began teaching Cho one-on-one:

Ms. Roy said she had been so nervous about taking him on as an individual student that she worked out a code with her assistant: if she mentioned the name of a dead professor, her assistant would know it was time to call security.

We do ourselves and the sufferers of mental illness no favors by trying to ignore or skate over their illness, which seems to have been the case here. I know he was apparently on medication, but when people are so scared of someone that they won’t show up to class with him or have to come up with secret passwords to call for help when they are with him, sterner measures are called for.

UPDATE

E-mail:

Rich,
This is absolutely “the” issue to come out of this, not the phony “gun control” issue. For parents sending their kids to college, the notion that borderline psychotics could be their classmates or roommates is terrifying. Things are not helped, when the school now hides behind Federal law in refusing to reveal details by citing privacy concerns. Congress needs to act now to clarify that deceased individuals have no right of privacy, at least when matters of great public concern are involved. I was prepared to give VT the benefit of the doubt over not locking down the campus in light of the first shooting incident. However, in light of all the stories that have come out, I predict that wrongful death litigation will be filed against the University before the start of summer by parents of those killed Monday. They may not win, but a full public airing of the decision-making, or lack thereof, regarding Cho’s continued presence in the campus community will follow.