Examining the roots of campus violence

A week after a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing five students before turning the gun on himself, students may be wondering whether aspects of their friends’ behavior may be detectable indicators of mental illness.

As investigators continue to piece together conflicting profiles of Steven Kazmierczak, the Northern Illinois shooter, it remains unclear what exactly provoked the rampage.

Many close associates, including Kazmierczak’s girlfriend, said they were stunned to learn that he had been the culprit in last week’s shootings. Most who knew him said they knew little of his troubled past, which included a brief stay in a psychiatric center, and described him very favorably.

Instances such as this show the need for student education about depression and possible mental illness.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has an information center dedicated to explaining symptoms of depression and mood disorders.

According to a fact sheet from the National Mental Health Information Center, changes in appetite and sleeping patterns, irritable moods, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness and disturbed thinking are all signs of mental health problems.

Dr. Elizabeth Gong-Guy, director of Student Psychological Services, said students can access helpful resources for assessing mental problems online, such as at www.sps.ucla.edu.

“On our Web site, students can use an online mental health screening tool to help determine their mental health problems,” Gong-Guy said.

She said that students who are mentally ill often show signs of mental instability.

In both the Northern Illinois case and in last year’s murders at Virginia Tech, investigators discovered checkered mental histories in the gunmen’s backgrounds.

A classmate of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui said he remembered the graphic violence depicted in two plays that Cho had written.

MSNBC.com reported that Kazmierczak was previously committed by his parents after becoming “unruly” at home. Authorities involved with the investigation also revealed that he had a history of cutting himself while under medical care.

Constitutional civil liberties protect mentally ill individuals from being committed without their consent.

The ambiguity of federal laws allows courts to determine the legality of involuntary hospitalization.

One Virginia Tech professor who taught Cho reportedly found legal restrictions limiting the amount of help she could provide.

In an interview with CNN last year, Lucinda Roy, former chairwoman of Virginia Tech’s English department, discussed the problem both she and police faced in handling the situation.

“The threats seemed to be underneath the surface. They were not explicit, and that was the difficulty police had,” Roy said.

Despite these obstacles, Gong-Guy said she believes that when students help each other utilize available resources, they are often successful in dealing with their struggles with mental illness.

Considering the slippery slope students face when confronted with these situations, some said they might not report their friends to authorities, but they would try to be actively involved in helping them cope with their struggles.

Archie McCoy-Diaz, a fourth-year biology student, said he would pursue a more friendly approach.

“I would try to help (a troubled friend) out with advice, and make him think of the good things in life,” McCoy-Diaz said.

Robyn Tikia, a fourth-year psychobiology student, said it is important to provide family-like support rather than refer a friend to professionals.

“I would try to spend as much time as I could with them, so they have someone to talk and chill with and hopefully put them more at ease,” Tikia said.

While there are limits to what students can do to help troubled friends, Gong-Guy said she agrees that showing friendly concern is often the successful first step students need to cope with mental troubles, since students are usually responsive to someone with whom they have an established relationship.