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Students' mental health, and how best to monitor it, is now a pressing issue on campuses nationwide
By: An essay by Rob Copeland
Issue date: 7/25/07 Section: Gothica
Last update: 9/15/07 at 3:53 PM EST
Last update: 9/15/07 at 3:53 PM EST
"The trauma to the friends whenever a suicide takes place is really disruptive, so we will work to help professors know there are students in their class… who are having something difficult to cope with," Thompson says.
At Virginia Tech, exams were made optional for all students. Friends of Chris Sanders had the option of working with their academic deans on specialized plans for their schoolwork during the grieving process.
Hypothetically, anyone could have taken an incomplete as a semester plan and made up the work within the first five weeks of fall semester, Thompson says.
And as Duke attempts to learn from Tech's mistakes, there remains a "dynamic tension", in Thompson's words, between ensuring a student's individual privacy and protecting the safety of the community-at-large.
Certainly, no one would claim that all mentally ill students should be suspended until they recover.
"Just because someone is depressed doesn't mean they can't be a part of the academic community," Thompson says. "It's the same as if they have a handicap."
A handicap that can, however, begin to affect those around the afflicted. Thompson concedes that if a student were, for instance, "an active fire setter," they would be removed at once.
Of course, where do you draw the line? And how can anyone measure a student's danger to himself? Clues from the Virginia Tech shootings suggest that dark academic writing could have tipped off administrators there to possible danger.
His assignments "dripped with anger," former professors told CNN. The former chair of Virginia Tech's English department told the network that without an explicit threat, she had few options-so she taught him one-on-one.
"I just felt I was between a rock and a hard place," she said. "It seemed the only alternative was to send him back to the classroom, and I wouldn't do it."
Ian Baucom, chair of Duke's English department, declined to comment on whether he had ever seen dangerous writing from a student at the University. He also declined to say whether his department had ever referred anyone to CAPS for further consultation.
At Virginia Tech, exams were made optional for all students. Friends of Chris Sanders had the option of working with their academic deans on specialized plans for their schoolwork during the grieving process.
Hypothetically, anyone could have taken an incomplete as a semester plan and made up the work within the first five weeks of fall semester, Thompson says.
And as Duke attempts to learn from Tech's mistakes, there remains a "dynamic tension", in Thompson's words, between ensuring a student's individual privacy and protecting the safety of the community-at-large.
Certainly, no one would claim that all mentally ill students should be suspended until they recover.
"Just because someone is depressed doesn't mean they can't be a part of the academic community," Thompson says. "It's the same as if they have a handicap."
A handicap that can, however, begin to affect those around the afflicted. Thompson concedes that if a student were, for instance, "an active fire setter," they would be removed at once.
Of course, where do you draw the line? And how can anyone measure a student's danger to himself? Clues from the Virginia Tech shootings suggest that dark academic writing could have tipped off administrators there to possible danger.
His assignments "dripped with anger," former professors told CNN. The former chair of Virginia Tech's English department told the network that without an explicit threat, she had few options-so she taught him one-on-one.
"I just felt I was between a rock and a hard place," she said. "It seemed the only alternative was to send him back to the classroom, and I wouldn't do it."
Ian Baucom, chair of Duke's English department, declined to comment on whether he had ever seen dangerous writing from a student at the University. He also declined to say whether his department had ever referred anyone to CAPS for further consultation.
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