It is something we have come to expect. Reports of burglaries and other crimes fill the headlines of newspapers and Internet sites almost everyday. With the recent increase in campus shootings, reports of student deaths are making themselves at home alongside such headlines.
Since the shooting that occurred at Virginia Tech in April 2007, another took place at Northern Illinois University Feb. 14, followed less than three weeks later by the murder of the student body president at the University of North Carolina on March 5.
Although the UNC murder was not a campus shooting, the other two incidents share a noticeable feature in that the shooters targeted particular students. Rather than immediately blame campus security systems or simply pass the burden of explanation to mental illness, we need to consider the extent of social pressures that may have led to such deadly violence.
According to a Washington Post article, shooter Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech wrote “disturbing” papers and poems, including a piece of fiction in which a student plans a massacre at school, an obvious cry for help. After one particularly fear-inducing poem, his professor simply approached him and told him to stop writing or he would have to drop the class.
Cho’s dorm letter reveals his anger toward students who made him feel uncomfortable: “Kill yourselves or you will never know how the dorky kid that (you) publicly humiliated and spat on will come behind you and slash your throats.” Although these remarks are taken as a sign of mental derangement, there are reasons for the anger swelling in Cho. He reached such a high point of pressure that he resorted to taking the lives of others only to get the attention he needed long ago.
Had the Virginia Tech students and professors in his class paid attention to him rather than simply fearing him, perhaps the pressure could have subsided just enough so that Cho might have reconsidered his thought process. Lending an ear or equal treatment of Cho could have been the difference between a few months of therapy for a single individual versus a lifetime of mourning and regret for the entire nation.
Similarly, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, a former student at Northern Illinois University, specifically targeted five other students in his geology class. According to a New York Times article, he was discharged from his enrollment in the Army because of “failure to complete training or discovery of a medical condition that was not evident at the time of enlistment.”
A look at the backgrounds of the students Kazmierczak targeted shows that almost every one had some sort of athletic ability. Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester, is remembered for being a “larger-than-life athlete” and a two-year starter on his varsity football squad. Catalina Garcia, 20, was a former track runner. Most noticeably, 32-year-old Juliana Gehant was an Army veteran enrolled in the Reserve. Perhaps Kazmierczak’s own failures to complete athletic training prompted a motive to target these students. Again, had someone taken the time to counsel him after his discharge, perhaps the rampage at NIU may have been prevented.
These cases show that the shooters each had specific targets and suggest that their violence may have been caused by a lack of sympathy and a great desire to “fit in.” Campuses need to consider ways to help students mentally and socially. UCLA, for instance, offers numerous programs, such as Student Psychological Services and social guidance at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, for students to obtain counseling. But such programs, despite their readiness to help, may not be ridding students of the social and academic pressures they feel and instead add another stress factor for fitting in or having something to add to a resume.
Campuses should conduct closer checks on students and offer more social aid to students with academic or athletic difficulties.
Moreover, students need to view each other with a more caring eye, not skip class as Virginia Tech students did to avoid a certain classmate. With a more sympathetic approach to others, perhaps headlines of violence and mourning will change to ones of aid.
If you have any ideas about extending social aid to students, e-mail Tehrani at ntehrani@media.ucla.edu.