Posted 05/02/07

VT Tragedy Response Discussion
Psychology department responds to mental illness allegations

Colin Vallance | photo editor
cvallance@smcvt.edu

On April 16 Cho Seung-Hiu went on a two stop shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech. The attack has been labeled the worst college shooting in modern day history.

Looking at Alternative possiblities

Members of the St. Michael's community gathered in the Farrell room to discuss the aftermath of the VT shootings. (photo, Colin Vallance)

This was the topic of discussion at the May 1 “Mental Health response to the Virginia Tech Tragedy.” The community discussion was led by faculty from the St. Michael’s College psychology department and was attended by students and faculty.

Psychology Professor Ron Miller has been following the events via the news and says he is weary of the conclusions that the media are arriving at. He addressed the social culture response to the tradgedy.

“It’s dangerous to begin to try to understand what happened here using solely news accounts,” he says. “There is limited information in the public domain and there is a desire to see and portray the shooter as mentally ill,” Miller says.

The reason for this he says is because people do not want to think of Cho as a stable individual.

“There’s a desire to see them as mentally ill, I think, and that’s what the social culture comes in," Miller says "Because if he is then he’s not a suicidal freelance terrorist so we just have to worry about the crazy people in our midst,” he says.

“The same thing happened with the Uni-bomber who seemed on all accounts to be very sane. He wrote manifestos that the New York Times published as coherent political argument and then once he was found, because his brother recognized his writing, the government tried to get him to plea not guilty on terms of insanity and he refused and they did it anyway,” Miller says.

With a background in the mental health system dating back to the 1970s Miller sees the mental illness as an excuse, he compares it to another infamous killer.

“The same thing happened with the Uni-bomber who seemed on all accounts to be very sane. He wrote manifestos that the New York Times published as coherent political argument and then once he was found, because his brother recognized his writing, the government tried to get him to plea not guilty on terms of insanity and he refused and they did it anyway,” Miller says.

The media has been looking at this as strictly a mental illness case and Miller says it is inadequate.

“The first question we have to ask is do we want to think of this as a mental health issue or do we want to think of this as a political act by an individually operating terrorist and I don’t think that the media have addressed an obvious an answer as this,” says Miller.

St. Michael's resources

Visiting psychology professor Dave Landers was present at the talk and he spoke on the St. Michael’s resources that are available for students who are in mental distress on campus.

Dave Landers was among the psychology professors who spoke at the gathering. (photo, Colin Vallance)

“One thing that we can bring from this tragic event is that not enough can be said about student mental health resources.Having these options is important and not enough people are aware of this resource. ”

Lander's South Korean niece was also present during the presentation and he says that the stereotype backlash is what is the most worrisome in terms of his family.

“It is a tragic event and these kind of things get spun in such a way that large masses of innocent people are likely to get stereotyped because of one mans actions.”

The meeting is meant to encourage dialog and promote healing for those who have been affected by the disaster, Landers says.

“As a community we have to begin the process of healing, these types of talks are a means to that end. We cannot expect to understand what happened at VT from this meeting but this type of thing broadens our view and hopefully helps with some sort of closure.”

Too close for comfort

Junior Christina Silva attended the event and says that the discussion addressed an interesting angle that the media has not been covering.

“All I hear about in the news is how the kid was crazy and the warning signs should have been seen. I think they’ve placed him in a very stereotypical light and I wanted to see what the psych professors thought of it,” says Silva.

After going to visit Virginia Tech for spring break this year Silva says it was shocked to hear the news.

“I couldn’t believe it, I was literally down there a month before it happened and now I feel like the shooting could have happened while I was down there. It’s hard to think that this kid was normal for him to do something like that,” Silva says.

Her feelings go out to the families of the desceased, says Silva.

"It's such an ugly image to have, especially with the killer making a video. I still have alot of questions and I'm sure the families do to," she says.