usa today collegiate case study: curbing campus violence

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Case

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THE NATION ’S NEW S PAPER

Campus killers’ warningsignoredBy Thomas Frank

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Campus security flaws in 15slayings at collegesBy Thomas Frank

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Terror in Illinois classroomBy Judy Keen

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Va. Tech students move in, move onBy Donna Leinwand

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Critical inquiryDiscussion and future implications

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No public institution or workplace is immune to random violence; incidentsoccur at businesses, shopping malls, places of worship and on college or univer-sity campuses. It seems especially egregious that this type of violence shouldoccur at institutions of higher learning, however, as it often impacts those whoare experiencing their first real independence as young adults.

Since the Blacksburg tragedy, security efforts have increased and become moresophisticated, yet, as free and open places of discourse, campuses will alwaysremain vulnerable.

This case study will explore efforts to identify those that may be troubled andprone to violence, as well as ways to increase student safety while maintainingthe essential open quality of higher education. Students will also consider theimpact of school violence on their campus communities, peer relationships,families and personal habits.

Curbing Campus Violence

12 States debate gunson campusCampus alert systems take hold

By Andrea Stone

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Stunned campus vows tobounce backBy Andy Gardiner

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By Marisol BelloUSA TODAY

Even before a gunman killed five peo-ple and injured several others in a lec-ture hall at Northern Illinois University,a small but growing movement hadbeen underway at universities andstate legislatures to allow students, fac-ulty and staff to carry guns on campus.

Twelve states are considering bills thatwould allow people with concealed-weapons permits to carry guns at pub-lic universities. The efforts weresparked by the Virginia Tech massacrelast April.

Students for Concealed Carry onCampus, an Internet-based organiza-tion with 11,000 members in itsFacebook group, is calling attention to

the issue with a protest from April 21to 25, a week after the one-yearanniversary of the shootings at VirginiaTech on April 16

"The only way to stop a person with agun is another person with a gun," saysUniversity of Cincinnati sophomoreMichael Flitcraft, 23. The mechanicalengineering major has a license tocarry guns but is prohibited by univer-sity rules from bringing one onto thecampus.

So far, 1,600 students on 500 campuseshave signed up on Facebook to partici-pate in the protest by wearing emptyholsters to class. W. Scott Lewis, thegroup's spokesman, says about 530students from 125 campuses joined asimilar protest in October.

Case study expert:Josephine M. Kim, Ph.D.

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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S NEWS SECTION FEBRUARY 15, 2008, 3A

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

"School is the only place I'm not allowed to carry myweapon," says Washington State University senior KristinGuttormsen, 35, one of the group's student leaders. He car-ries a .40-caliber Taurus Millenium Pro handgun.

"I felt defenseless, and it started to bug me, especially withall the school shootings," he says. "We're not talking aboutconvincing people to get licenses, we're talking about peo-ple who already have their licenses. And for the most part,they are older students."

South Dakota is the latest state to join the debate. The stateHouse approved a bill last week that overturns the policy ofthe state's six public universities prohibiting guns on cam-pus. A state Senate committee voted down the bill onMonday, but efforts continue to push the bill to the fullbody for vote. Other bills are pending in Alabama, Arizona,Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina,Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

"This is the piece of legislation of the year" among statelawmakers nationwide, says Kentucky Democratic Rep.Kathy Stein, who opposes it.

In her state, there is a battle over a bill that would allow agun on campus if it is locked in a car. Stein says public uni-versities should be allowed to set their own policies.

Kentucky's eight public universities bar guns on campus,including parking lots.

The Kentucky bill's sponsor, Democratic Rep. RobertDamron, says college campuses should be treated the sameas every other place in Kentucky, where gun owners cankeep firearms in their cars, regardless of whether they areon public or private property.

Only Utah allows permit holders to carry guns on the cam-puses of its nine public universities. Thirty-eight states andthe District of Columbia prohibit guns in schools; 16 ofthose specifically prohibit guns in colleges and universities.

The push to allow guns on campus rankles Garrett Evans,who was shot in both legs during the Virginia Tech ram-page, and Omar Samaha, whose younger sister, Reema, waskilled.

"Having guns in the classroom only makes things worse,"says Evans, 31. He says the Virginia Tech gunman, Seung HuiCho, walked into his German class and began shooting soquickly that no one would have had time to shoot back.

Samaha says guns on campus are a risk in an environmentwhere young people drink and fight and are not always ableto control their emotions. "It's kind of a crazy notion tothink about," he says. "It takes us back to the Wild, WildWest."

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By Judy KeenUSA TODAY

DEKALB, Ill. -- Students crawled, hid and ran in terrorfrom a man dressed in black who appeared frombehind a screen at a lecture hall Thursday at a universi-ty west of Chicago and blasted students with gunfirebefore killing himself in a melee that was over in lessthan two minutes, school officials said.

Five died from gunshot wounds and 16 others wereinjured in the Northern Illinois University (NIU) shoot-ing, university Police Chief Donald Grady said.

Desiree Smith was sitting near the back of a lecture hallin Cole Hall around 3 p.m. when the shooter walkedthrough a door at the side of the stage and startedshooting.

"I kept thinking, 'Oh God, he's going to shoot me. OhGod, I'm dead,'" the senior journalism major said.

"People were crawling on each other, trampling eachother," she said. "As I got near the door, I got up and Istarted running."

Grady said the gunman had a shotgun and two pistolsand was not a student at the school of 25,000 students.University President John Peters said the gunman was aformer graduate student in sociology at NIU, but wasnot currently enrolled at the campus about 65 mileswest of Chicago.

Peters said the four women and one man the gunmankilled were all students. Four others were in criticalcondition late Thursday.

The shooting recalled the deaths of 32 people atVirginia Tech last year at the hands of a student gun-man, an act that prompted schools across the countryto re-examine campus security.

The shooting came after police investigated inDecember writings on a dormitory wall that includedracial slurs and references to the Virginia Tech shoot-ings. Police found no imminent threat at the time.

The first shots were fired just after 3 p.m. during ageology class led by a graduate student. At 3:07 p.m.,Peters said they put the entire campus on "lockdown,"but did not elaborate on what that meant. Two minuteslater sophomore Melissa Elaguizy said a teacher arrivedat her classroom in DuSable Hall, near Cole Hall, towarn of a possible shooting and order the doors of theclassroom locked.

Peters said the school put out a campuswide alert at3:20 p.m. that included a message on the school's web-site, e-mails, voice mails, public address systems andcalls to media outlets. The warning on the website wasposted at 3:20 p.m.

Elaguizy said she didn't receive a warning on her cell-phone. The first e-mail she got warning of a possiblegunman came at 3:41 p.m.

On campus Thursday night, students were streamingout of a dormitory heading for home.

Robin Johnson, 18, a freshman from Chicago, was in herEnglish class when classmates received text and phonemessages about the shooting. She said her teacherlocked the door, shoved a desk against the door and puta trash can on top of the desk.

"We didn't know how many of them there were. Wedidn't know if we were safe," she said.

Eric Johnson, 23, a senior from Addison, Ill., said he wasstanding 20 feet from the entrance to Cole Hall when"the doors flung open and a ton of people ran out. Theywere yelling, 'He's got a gun!'" Johnson heard two shotsas he ran back to his dorm room.

Contributing: William M. Welch in Los Angeles; Alan Gomez in McLean, Va.

Terror in Illinois classroom6 killed, including gunman, in 2 minutes at university


AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S NEWS SECTION AUGUST 17, 2007, 4A

Va. Tech students move in, move onShooting victims not forgotten as semester beginsBy Donna LeinwandUSA TODAY

BLACKSBURG, Va. --When Whitley Johnson begged hermother to let her return to Virginia Tech a few days earlyfor flag-team tryouts, Melanie Johnson gently broachedlast semester's tragedy with her daughter.

Whitley, who had lived in West Ambler Johnston, thedorm where the first shootings took place on April 16,had a ready response.

"She told me, 'Mom, we don't live in a spirit of fear. I'vegot to go back and finish what I started,'" MelanieJohnson recounted as she unloaded her overstuffed SUVoutside Whitley's new dorm, Cochrane, this week.

"This year is about celebrating the lives we did lose andcontinuing their legacy by continuing ours," addsWhitley Johnson, 19. "We've moved on, but not in asense of disrespect."

As the new semester begins -- first with a formal dedi-cation Sunday of a memorial to the victims, then withthe start of classes Monday -- students will see newsecurity measures and a phalanx of mental health coun-selors who will be available as needed. Administratorshope to strike a balance, they say, between remember-ing the victims and beginning anew.

Before 5,200 freshman arrived for orientation this sum-mer -- a significantly higher number than last year --school officials removed most of the impromptu com-memorations that sprang up in the weeks after thedeaths of 32 victims and student gunman Seung HuiCho.

"We didn't want to ignore what had happened, but wedidn't want it to define their college experience,"Director of Orientation Rick Sparks says.

The impact of the massacre -- the nation's deadliestschool shooting ever -- extends far beyond Virginia Tech,rippling through colleges and universities nationwide.

Dozens of universities, including Tech, have institutedemergency text messaging systems that can send thou-sands of alerts to cellphones and e-mail accounts withinseconds, says Catherine Bath, executive director ofSecurity on Campus, an organization in King of Prussia,Pa., that seeks to make campuses safer.

"Everybody has this 'can't happen to us' mentality," Bathsays. "It's a shame that it took a tragedy. Now universi-ties need to put emergency preparedness plans intoplace."

Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y., emphasizedcampus safety more this year during orientation, saysKenneth Holmes, assistant vice president for student life.

"Virginia Tech was certainly on people's minds (duringorientation)," Holmes says. "Parents asked a lot of goodquestions about whether we would be prepared for anactive shooter on campus. We are, and we have been."

At University of Colorado, Boulder, administrators updat-ed the policy on campus violence, says Brad Wiesley,commander of the university's police department. Onechange says that deans, professors and staff can refer aperson for counseling, something previously left to thepolice, Wiesley adds.

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Although the university cannot compel a student to seekcounseling, administrators hope the policy will flagpotentially troubled students, he says.

At Virginia Tech, administrators announced several newsecurity policies and sent a letter to parents of new stu-dents to reassure them about safety.

u Dorms, previously locked just at night, will be locked24 hours a day, accessible only to student residents whogain access with an electronic "Hokie Pass."

u Students can register for the new emergency notifica-tion system.

u Older door locks will be replaced with exit bars thatcannot be chained shut, as Cho did during the shootings.

Students say they are grateful for the added security butdon't feel vulnerable.

"I'm not afraid for my safety. It's something that couldhave happened anywhere," says Meron Assefa, 27, ofAddis Ababa, Ethiopia, who will begin graduate studiesin economics. She says the security measures are morecomforting for family and friends who have never beento Virginia Tech but watched the tragedy play out on TV.

"Everybody knows about it. They call it the 'shootingschool,'" Assefa says. "Even my 7-year-old cousin told mehe didn't think it was a good place to go."

In the town of Blacksburg, most store owners haveremoved the memorial signs that once covered MainStreet's windows. Still remaining are signs displayingpoet and faculty member Nikki Giovanni's defiant avow-

al the day after the shooting: "We are the Hokies. Wewill prevail."

"There came a point where it was time to move on, toput some of the signs away," says Blacksburg Mayor RonRordam, whose town will swell from 16,500 residents to41,500 residents as students arrive this weekend.

"The town is affected more deeply than people realize. Ifyou live in Blacksburg, you're a Hokie," Rordam says. "Ineveryday conversation, we still discuss it."

On Sunday, the community will confront the massacreduring a dedication at the Drillfield, the quadrangle andheart of the university. President Charles Steger will rec-ognize the victims and unveil an arc of 32 stones, eachweighing 300 pounds and engraved with the name ofone of the dead.

The memorial echoes an impromptu commemorationcreated during an outpouring of grief after the shootings.Students collected 32 limestone rocks, locally known asHokie Stones, and placed them in an arc. Within hours,the stones were covered with Hokie ornaments, bou-quets and teddy bears. The original stones will be pre-sented to the victims' families, says Tom Tillar, vice presi-dent of alumni affairs.

"I think it's a healing place," says Matt Gart, the campuslandscape architect who supervised the memorial'sdesign and construction. "I hope people will see it as aplace to celebrate the lives of those we lost."

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Campus killers’ warnings ignoredShooting victims not forgotten as semester beginsBy Thomas FrankUSA TODAY

About once every year, a campus murder is committedafter administrators take insufficient action despitewarnings about threats, flawed security or dangeroussituations, a USA TODAY analysis of college homicidessince 1991 shows.

In at least 15 of the cases reviewed, the campus killershowed signs of being a danger, often with either a crim-inal or psychotic background, or by making violentthreats.

The massacre of 32 at Virginia Tech in April, like some ofthe 15 cases, fits a pattern of killings committed by iso-lated, vengeful students who turn homicidal with shock-ing brutality. Students have been stabbed 97 times, shot11 times, burned, strangled, suffocated and beaten withforce that one pathologist compared to falling off a TVtower.

USA TODAY reviewed information on 110 campus mur-ders since 1991 for which detailed information wasavailable from court testimony, depositions, psychologi-cal records and news reports.

The campus murders examined also have exposed safetyflaws such as inadequate security forces and the easewith which students and workers can hide criminalbackgrounds, the analysis shows. Just this week, rela-tives of those killed at Virginia Tech demanded therelease of student gunman Seung Hui Cho's mentalhealth records.

About a third of campus killers analyzed over the 15-year period had recently been rejected, many of themmen who had killed a former girlfriend and often them-selves. Seven were failing or thwarted graduate studentswho murdered faculty members.

"There's a lot at stake personally in college," and rejec-tion can be daunting, says Russ Federman, head of theUniversity of Virginia's psychological services.Homicides on campus remain a rarity. The nation's 4,200campuses -- home to about 17.5 million students --report a total of about 15 murders a year, according toEducation Department data.

College administrators say they usually cannot preventmurders because they don't know whether a studentwill turn violent. "It's rare that a college would havesome kind of advance notice," says Brett Sokolow, aPennsylvania lawyer who advises colleges on safety.

That may be the case because campuses often lack sys-tems to spot violent students, says S. Daniel Carter, vicepresident of Security on Campus, a safety-advocacygroup. "Many campus murders have been preventable,"Carter says.

Colleges have paid millions to settle lawsuits alleging badsecurity and have tacitly acknowledged security flawsby tightening safety after a murder. Officials often facecriticism and occasional legal sanctions.

In March, Edward Waters College in Jacksonville paid$2.75 million to the parents of a freshman who was shotto death at his dorm in 2004. College security directorTimothy Rose said that with more security, studentJonathan Glenn "would have had a chance."

University of North Carolina Wilmington administratorJames Dixon III left his job and pleaded guilty to forgeryafter his son was convicted of raping and strangling astudent in her university dorm in 2004. Dixon had liedon his son's admission application, omitting recent crimi-nal charges. "It wasn't like (the killer) just out of the bluelost his mind," says Thom Goolsby, a lawyer suing UNCon behalf of victim Jessica Faulkner's parents. "He was aticking time bomb."



By Thomas FrankUSA TODAY

The University of Washington devised a bold plan sixyears ago to protect students and faculty after a strug-gling medical resident shot to death his mentor, thenkilled himself.

A new safety team would be alerted to all threats. Itwould move potential victims to a new dorm or office,assign them police protection or take steps such aschanging their phone numbers.

In March, when university employee Rebecca Griego toldsupervisors and campus police that her formerboyfriend had threatened her in two recent calls to heroffice, no one told the safety team.

On April 2, former boyfriend Jonathan Rowan foundGriego in her campus office. Emptying his six-shotrevolver, Rowan killed Griego, 26, and himself. She wasalone at the time.

The murder is one of at least 15 in which colleges haveprovided flawed security, ignored threats or danger signsor paid insufficient attention to disturbed students, aUSA TODAY analysis of more than 100 college killingssince 1991 shows.

The massacre of 32 at Virginia Tech in April, like some ofthe 15 cases, fits a pattern of killings committed by iso-lated, vengeful students who turn homicidal with shock-ing brutality.

The pattern revealed by campus killings points to broad-er security flaws at colleges that can contribute to the2,500 annual rapes and 3,000 annual aggravated assaultsat colleges, campus safety experts say.

"Murders can expose flaws in the system that go a lotdeeper," said S. Daniel Carter, vice president of Securityon Campus, a safety-advocacy group. Campus adminis-trators often do a poor job telling students and oneanother about threats, Carter said.

'People let their guard down'

At the University of Washington, Rebecca Griego's super-visor "wasn't really aware of the policy" requiring him tonotify the safety team, university spokesman NormArkans said. Police are trying to figure out why the teamwasn't alerted, even after Griego gave university police acopy of a court protection order.

"We try to do the best we can," university police ChiefVicky Stormo said, "and sometimes things just don't goright." She added: "People let their guard down (on cam-pus). People tend to look at the good and don't thinkthat when they see something, maybe there are evilintentions."

That's happened numerous times, according to courtrecords.

u In January 2002, Peter Odighizuwa shot and killed anadministrator, a professor and a fellow student atAppalachian School of Law a day after being asked towithdraw for academic failure. Odighizuwa had threat-ened students and staff for months, according to formerfinancial-aid officer Chris Clifton. Administrators "justbrushed it off," Clifton said.

uIn October 2002, Robert Flores, a failing University ofArizona nursing student, fatally shot three of his instruc-tors, including one who had recently sent administratorsa "heads up" e-mail warning that Flores "has significantbehavioral problems," according to public records. Aninstructor who was not killed had reported Flores'threats against the school to police, but police nevercontacted Flores. A dean in charge of discipline never gotthe report.

Campus security flaws found in15 slayings at collegesAnalysis of killings shows problems that may contribute to other crimes



uIn March 2004, Shuvender Sem, who has a history ofmental illness, stabbed to death a fellow student atMaharishi University of Management in Iowa just hoursafter attacking another student in a classroom. JoelWysong, the university's dean of men, had taken Sem tohis apartment after the first attack "to keep an eye onhim," Wysong said in a police statement.

When Wysong left Sem alone in his kitchen, Sem took aparing knife, went to the dining hall and stabbed LeviButler four times with no provocation.

Some campus officials, particularly professors, are ill-equipped to handle troubled students, experts say.

"The people who might see those behaviors first havethe least background in how to deal with it," saidUniversity of South Florida criminologist Max Bromley.

The number of potentially troubled students is growingas colleges enroll more people with mental disorders,said Russ Federman, head of University of Virginia psy-chological services. Those students can function in aca-demia using psychotropic drugs that are increasinglyeffective.

Seriously disturbed students often "discontinue theirmedication, and that's the point at which they unravel inviolent ways," Federman said.

Trouble predicting violence

Wendell Williamson, a University of North Carolina lawstudent, had been hearing voices for two years until auniversity psychiatrist gave him anti-psychotic medicine.Within six weeks, Williamson was "doing remarkablybetter," psychiatrist Myron Liptzin wrote in a 1994report.

Liptzin retired a month later without arranging forWilliamson to see another psychiatrist, according to acourt deposition. "It was his choice" whether to gettreatment, Liptzin said in the deposition.

Williamson stopped taking medication, returned tohearing voices and "decided I'd have to get violent," helater told a psychiatrist. In January 1995, Williamsonstrode through downtown Chapel Hill near the UNCcampus and killed two people at random with a rifle.

Colleges say they cannot predict when a troubled stu-dent will turn violent. In a one-month span in 2004, twoUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington students weremurdered by other students who hid their criminalbackgrounds on admissions applications. A report by theUniversity of North Carolina found a pattern of appli-cants with criminal backgrounds lying on applicationsand suggested better scrutiny of applications.

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Campus alert systems take holdBy Andrea StoneUSA TODAY

When a University of Memphis football player was foundfatally shot on campus, resident assistants banged ondoors warning students to stay in their dorm rooms.

When a man wearing a Fred Flintstone mask and toting a.50-caliber rifle was arrested at St. John's University inQueens, N.Y., students were alerted by text message 10minutes later.

And when a man called the University of Wisconsin-Madison and said he was on campus with a gun, admin-istrators sent e-mails and put the word out on theFacebook website.

In each of the cases in the past week, college administra-tors say their quick actions stemmed from lessonslearned after April's shooting rampage at Virginia Tech,where 32 people were killed by a suicidal gunman.While the number of violent campus incidents remainssteady, there are more alerts since the Blacksburgtragedy, says Robin Hattersley-Gray, executive editor ofCampus Safety Magazine.

"Before Virginia Tech, we never had a reason to be ableto deliver a message in any big hurry," says Dale Burke,UW-Madison's assistant chief of university police. Theschool has since cut delivery time for mass e-mail fromseveral hours to 30 minutes.

Virginia Tech administrators have been criticized for notalerting students and locking down the campus in thetwo hours between the time that gunman Seung Hui

Cho killed two students in a dorm and when he killed 30others in a classroom building before killing himself.Several reviews recommended better security andemergency alert measures.

Other campuses have heeded the advice. After two stu-dents were shot and wounded at Delaware StateUniversity on Sept. 21, classes at the Dover campus werecanceled and notices went up on the school's websiteand in buildings urging students to stay inside. StudentLoyer Braden, 18, was later arrested.

Colleges are taking a "multilayered approach," says ChrisBlake of the International Association of Campus LawEnforcement Administrators. That means anything fromlow-tech door knocking to plasma screens flashingwarnings.

No one was hurt last week at St. John's, which issued a"stay in place" order that lasted more than three hours."We erred on the side of safety," university spokesmanDominic Scianna says. Before the incident, he says, 2,100people had registered for emergency text messages.Now, there are 9,000.

When an armed robber hid out on campus last Fridayand was soon captured, UW-Madison officials e-mailedtwo updates.

Says Bob Eoff of the University of Memphis: "VirginiaTech changed everybody's thinking."

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Stunned campus vows to bounce backDuquesne students, leaders offer support, hope in wake of shootingsBy Andy GardinerUSA TODAY

PITTSBURGH -- Students balancing cellphones and back-packs filled the Academic Walk on Tuesday afternoon,strolling down the brick-paved pedestrian promenadethat is one of Duquesne University's most popular gath-ering spots on campus. But the co-eds had to steparound police crews sweeping for shell casings and tele-vision camera crews shooting footage for that evening'snews.

The scene is an eerie reminder of the tragedy that struckthis 10,000-student Catholic university early Sundaymorning when five members of the men's basketballteam were shot. One of the players, Sam Ashaolu,remained in critical condition Tuesday with bullet frag-ments in his head at nearby Mercy Hospital.

What led to the shootings is still unclear, but severalplayers told the Associated Press the shooter was a non-student unhappy that the woman he accompanied to thedance at the Student Union had talked with a player. Theshooter and at least one other man followed the players,opening fire as the players made the 100-yard trip downthe A-Walk to their dormitories.

As police charged two men with the shootings Tuesday,the Duquesne university community attempted to moveforward.

"I would never have expected something like this to hap-pen here in a million years," said Carmen Bruce, aPittsburgh native and member of the women's basket-ball team. "The teams here are very close and if some-thing happens to one of us, it happens to us all. We'rejust trying to stay positive and rally around each other."

One of the most frequent questions athletics directorGreg Amodio has heard since Sunday is how the shoot-ings will affect the team.

"In all honesty, we haven't really thought about it muchat this point," he said. "Right now we're on a day-to-daybasis, and our focus is on our student-athletes who arestill hospitalized and their families.

"We begin and end each day trying to figure out whatthe immediate needs are. But we have to move awayfrom just being reactionary and start to look soon atwhere we are going."

New hope for the Dukes

Where Duquesne hopes it is headed in men's basketballis up. Once a proud program and still the school's signa-ture sport, the Dukes went 3-24 last year and have onlyone winning season the last 20 years.

"I think the thing we have to get past is the idea amongsome people, some sportswriters, some of our alums,that the program is star-crossed," said universityPresident Charles Dougherty. "We have to undo the nag-ging perception that there is something wrong here thatcan't be fixed."

Amodio was hired in 2004 to change that perception. Hebrought in coach Ron Everhart last March to lead theway. Everhart had turned around struggling programs atMcNeese State and Northeastern and completelyremade the Dukes roster.

Eight scholarship players from 2004-05 left the program,five by transfer. In came 10 new faces, including transfersKojo Mensah and Shawn James who must sit out thisseason; junior college players Ashaolu and StuardBaldonado, and five freshmen. Mensah, James andBaldonado were among those injured Sunday, along withAaron Jackson, one of only two players returning fromlast year.

"From Day One we knew our biggest challenge as a bas-ketball team this year, as a basketball program, was goingto be the team-building process," Everhart said.

"Pretty much everything we did revolved around sacri-fice, selflessness, the things that create togetherness anda sense of team. And these guys were doing that everystep of the way."

The basketball team attended Duquesne's football gameagainst St. Francis on Saturday and were together at thedance sponsored by the Black Student Union that night.

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Although Jackson was wounded in the hand, he helpedget Baldonado into his car and drive him to the hospital.

"When this senseless act of violence happened, our play-ers put their lives in danger to help their teammates,"Everhart said. "When guys are willing to do that youhave something special."

NCAA President Myles Brand told Dougherty his organi-zation was ready to help on any front as the school dealtwith the tragedy. Duquesne has set up counseling for allits student-athletes and Dougherty has met daily withthe basketball team. Amodio said that the players, whiledisturbed about and concerned for their teammates,have been steadfast.

"Kieron Achara (a returning junior forward) told us lastnight he could see no reason why this wouldn't make useven stronger as a team," Amodio said. "How they'relooking at this is how this will draw them closer togetherand ultimately make them better in the future."

Practice begins in four weeks.

"At camps and clinics nobody really talks about how todeal with something like this," Everhart said. "You're justso concerned about the players who are injured andyou're so concerned about their well-being and theirfamilies."But the unity on this team is so strong. They've reallystuck together beyond what I thought would be possi-ble. This team is going to be OK."

'Historically, a safe place'

Duquesne has prided itself on the safety of its campus.Even after the shootings students said they felt safe andthat this incident was not representative of their schoolor community.

"When you send your kids to school you don't expectthem to be in the middle of a shootout and you wouldnever expect that to happen at Duquesne," said NormNixon, the school's most celebrated basketball player(1973-77) who went on to play in the NBA. "You have totake steps to make sure it never happens again."

Dougherty said the university is setting up a committeeto review security: "A college campus is an open placealmost by definition, so what measures of enhancedsecurity are appropriate will require some reflection anddiscussion."

"Everything is on the table at this point except that Iknow that we can't just put a bubble over ourselves. Wedon't want to make it discouraging or impossible for visi-tors to come on campus. The dialogue now has to be dowe continue in that direction and do it with someenhancement of our security."

Amodio said he has received calls from colleaguesaround the country offering support and acknowledgingthe shootings could happen anywhere.

"Historically this has been a very, very safe place, andthat's what we've tried to stress," he said. "This trulywas an isolated incident perpetrated by individuals whowere not even students here. This was not indicative ofwho we are and the environment we have."

For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com

1. Brainstorm ways to handle the following situation: ‘Joe’ is a bit of an unknown; he doesn’t say much to other stu-dents, rarely participates in class and is a very talented artist. His notepad caricatures of students and facultyare often circulated and have earned him a certain degree of notoriety, in spite of his reticent nature. Whenlooking for a lost item, his roommate discovers a pad of drawing paper filled with violent images that includebuildings on campus and students or faculty. The roommate shares his findings with a group of friends thatinclude you. What guidelines should you follow when trying to determine if a student is an imminent threat tohim/herself or others? What dangers are there in taking action against someone who turns out to be merely dif-ferent or ‘weird,’ with no proclivity toward violent action? Discuss with your peers what actions could, or shouldbe taken in this scenario.

2. Some estimate that only about 25 percent of campus crimes are reported to the authorities. What types of cam-pus violence are most often un-reported? What individual, institutional, and socio-cultural factors are mostresponsible for under-reporting incidents of campus violence? What strategies can be implemented to encour-age reports of campus violence?

3. To what degree do you think current privacy laws and regulations make it too difficult to share vital informationwith campus officials when there is a potential threat to students? What exceptions or changes to current lawmight be justified in an effort to reduce campus violence?

4. Experts have cited sports culture and the use of drugs or alcohol as factors contributing to school violence. Howdo these shape the culture on your own campus? What role do you think they might play in promoting violentbehavior?

5. How have the most recent incidents of campus violence, including Blacksburg, affected your relationships withfellow students and peers, your family and any personal habits?

6. Some have expressed concern that our schools, as gun-free zones, are defenseless and especially vulnerable tothose who intend to do harm. States such as Arizona are debating changes to the law that would allow legally-owned guns on campuses as a means of protection. Others worry that allowing people to be armed on campuswould create additional opportunities for violence. Do the recent shootings provide sufficient justification toallow guns to be carried on campus? Why or why not?

Discussion Questions:

v American College Health Associationwww.acha.org/info_resources/guidelines.cfm

v Campus Violence White Paper (.pdf format) www.acha.org/info_resources/06_Campus_Violence.pdf

v National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Centerwww.safeyouth.org/scripts/topics/college.asp

v Higher Education Center Resourceswww.higheredcenter.org/pubs/violence.html

Additional Resources:


Voices Extension: The questions and activities below utilize USA TODAY's Voices initiative to help you and your fellow students learnabout, debate and inspire action on issues of importance in our country and world.

The Voices website (voices.usatoday.com) provides information and tools you can use to get discussions, forums ordebates going on any number of important topics.

1. Using the Share Your Story link on the Voices website at voices.usatoday.com, post the steps that you, other stu-dents on your campus, and/or college officials have taken to a) provide a culture that facilitates treatment for stu-dents suffering from stress or depression, b) create a system that allows both students and faculty to communicatesafety concerns to the appropriate authorities, knowing that they will be taken seriously and c) address the fearstudents may feel in the wake of incidents of campus violence.

2. Explore the arguments for and against gun control on the Voices website at voices.usatoday.com. How do thesearguments inform the debate over the best ways to control college violence in the future?

Future Implications:

1. Discuss the role that the Internet plays in giving alienated youths opportunity, motivation and a sense of valida-tion for violent behavior. Given the role that the Internet can also play in helping alert and protect students in anemergency, would you say the Internet is ultimately more likely to increase or decrease safety on today’s campus-es? Develop an “Online Campus Security Plan” that gives specific ways in which the Internet or other newer tech-nologies could be used in an emergency on your campus.

2. Proposed state government initiatives include a study to see whether state background checks for gun registra-tion should include mental health information, determine ways to identify mentally ill students and whether cam-pus security officers should carry guns. Analyze these initiatives for their feasibility and potential effectiveness inreducing violence on campus. Plan a panel discussion using the Voices toolkit (voices.usatoday.com) and invitelocal and state government officials, college administration, faculty and students to discuss these and other initia-tives to reduce the threat of campus violence.

3. Using the link in the additional resources section of this case study, learn about the different types of violenceillustrated in the American College Health Association Campus Violence White Paper. Which of these is mostprevalent on your campus? Using the crime statistics listed in this white paper as guidelines to help avoid crime,create a public service message to raise awareness of potential opportunities for crime, as well as illustrate waysto increase student safety. In the case of sexual assault, be sure your message doesn’t focus primarily on the indi-vidual victim’s responsibility to avoid sexual assault without balancing this risk management information with pre-vention education that stresses the perpetrator’s responsibility.

4. Picture a college campus with alcohol-free and smoke-free dormitories, zero-tolerance policies for offenders, anatmosphere that encourages witnesses to report crimes, and a system that no longer makes it necessary for a vic-tim to participate in a campus judicial proceeding. What impact would this culture change have on safety, the inci-dence of crime, student health and academic progress? If positive results could be shown in all of these areas,would students be more likely to enroll in an institution that imposed these regulations? Why or why not? Usingthe Voices toolkit at voices.usatoday.com, debate ways to reduce violence by making changes to the campus envi-ronment, in general, and on your campus, in particular. Which of your solutions may alienate students who areaccustomed to the freedom of an open campus? How might you convince students that any proposed restrictionsor loss of privacy and freedom were worth it?

Josephine M. Kim is a Lecturer on Education in the Risk and Prevention program at HarvardGraduate School of Education. She earned a Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision fromthe Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia in May of 2005. She is a LicensedMental Health Counselor in the state of Massachusetts and a National Certified Counselorwhose clinical skills and experiences span many contexts including residential facilities, com-munity agencies, and public and private schools. She has worked with multicultural popula-tions through individual, group, and family counseling and has taught students of all ages inmany educational contexts, including private and public language schools and private and pub-lic colleges and universities. She has provided professional consultation and expertise on mul-ticultural, mental health, and educational issues to various internet, newspaper, magazine, andtelevision sources in Korea and in the U.S. She has been the keynote speaker at numerous par-ent, teacher, and youth conferences in Asia and in the U.S, and in 2007 alone, she presented 23

educational symposiums in Korea and 35 in the U.S. As a bilingual and bicultural Korean-American counselor andeducator, Dr. Kim has worked to destigmatize the utilization of services by minority populations, educating on thesalience of mental health issues, career development education, and the access to equitable student services withinschools and communities by marginalized populations. She has been called upon during national crises, beingdeployed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the federal government to workwith Katrina victims during the summer of 2006 and being recruited by the provost’s office of Virginia Tech in thespring of 2007, following the campus massacre.


About the Expert: Josephine M. Kim, Ph.D.

Questions from the Expert:

1. How important is emotional and psychological health in one’s overall health and school adjustment?

2. How do you feel about seeking services at your school’s counseling center to address your personal concerns dur-ing distressful times?

3. What are your family’s perceptions regarding seeking professional counseling for personal concerns, and how dotheir views affect your personal values related to service utilization?

4. Was there a particular time when you could have benefitted from seeking help? Did you seek counseling servicesat that time? If so, what was that experience like? If not, what prevented you from seeking help?

5. If and when you seek counseling, what are the key elements that you would expect the practitioner to possess?

6. How should one’s racial and familial culture be addressed in counseling sessions?

7. How equitable are the services of your university’s counseling center in terms of servicing the racially and cultur-ally different client?

8. If you were to provide recommendations to improve the current services of your campus’ counseling center, whatwould you suggest?

To read additional works by Dr. Kim, visit:www.usatodaycollege.com

usa today collegiate case study: curbing campus violence

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