The mass shootings committed by Steven Kazmierczak at Northern Illinois University last week and by Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University last April have left experts rushing to prevent such unforeseen acts of violence from occurring in the future.
Though many colleges have re-evaluated their safety policies, many experts feel there is little that can be done to prevent violent thoughts and actions.
Predicting violence is hard, said Amy Bowers, a licensed psychologist and assistant director for outreach and consultation at AU's Counseling Center.
"It can be done to a degree, but there's no perfect way," Bowers said. "The goal is to be as thorough as possible, knowing that you can never be 100 percent effective."
Maggie Abraham, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, said her friend recently committed suicide. Being close to a person is like wearing goggles - it is more difficult to realize someone's problems if you don't want to believe that he or she has any, she said.
"Being friends is, 'I'm going to go [get help] for you even if it means ruining our friendship ... making sure you have someone to help manage what you're going through,'" Abraham said.
Between the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, there have been four high-profile cases of fatal campus violence. Three of the cases resulted from apparent robberies or previous altercations. A fourth incident, the most recent before NIU, occurred Feb. 8 at Louisiana Technical College. In that incident, a 23-year-old woman shot two students in a classroom before turning the gun on herself. Police are still attempting to determine why the shootings at the college occurred, according to CNN.com.
Previously seen as a high school phenomenon, copycat spree killings are becoming more frequent on college campuses, Gary Pavela, director of judicial programs at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of "Questions and Answers on College Student Suicide," told The Chronicle of Higher Education last week. The most striking evidence is from Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, who referred to the April 1999 Columbine High School shootings in the videotaped manifesto he released to the media, Pavela said.
Despite the magnitude of the tragedies at Virginia Tech and elsewhere, AU officials maintain that many of the preventative policies that AU currently has in place existed prior to the shootings.
"AU has always done a good job communicating concerns about students," said Sarah Waldron, associate dean of students. "Post-Virginia Tech, everyone is that much more concerned."
Waldron said that since she arrived on-campus seven years ago, the university has always encouraged professors and faculty to report any students who exert any noticeable changes in behavior to the proper officials. A red flag could arise from a number of different reasons - from a student who a professor recognizes is having problems at home to one who attends class regularly then begins to frequently miss it.
Julie Smolinski, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said it was "unfair" to suspect a person of being dangerous based solely on atypical behavior. If a person says he or she is going to commit a violent act, it does not always mean they necessarily will, she said.
"People who make 'slasher' movies don't always go out and murder people," Smolinski said.
Then-Interim President Neil Kerwin said in an e-mail to the AU community last year that individuals have the right to express themselves and behave in ways that may seem unusual to some. These rights need be respected, he said.
"When behaviors become a danger to themselves or others, then faculty, staff or students must feel both empowered (and comfortable) to take appropriate action," Kerwin said in the e-mail.
One way to identify dangers is to put in place effective educational programs. The Counseling Center has always offered information about how to deal with certain traumatic situations. It has also sponsored outreach programs on a variety of mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Bowers.
Abraham said she thought the social stigmas associated with mental diseases makes it more difficult for people to talk about their problems.
"It's a scary place for someone having issues or trouble," she said. "The social stigmas only scare them more in making them not want to talk about it"
