What Do Community Colleges Owe Their Students? (click title to entry - thank you)
Read original story in The New York Times | Friday, Jan. 14, 2011
The New York Times Article.
...Virginia and Illinois passed laws (click here) requiring colleges and universities to establish multidisciplinary threat-evaluation teams. Today, more than half of the country’s 4,500 colleges and universities “acknowledge the need and have formed some capacity” to assess student threats, said Steven Healy, a former Princeton University police chief, who leads training programs in threat assessment under a grant from the Justice Department. On Tuesday, he was leading a workshop for 70 educators in Phoenix, which he began with a moment of silence.
At Virginia Tech, the Threat Assessment Team — a national model, whose members include the dean of students; the director of counseling; a university lawyer; and Dr. Deisinger, a psychologist who also holds the title of deputy police chief — meets weekly, discussing 6 to 20 cases.
A campus Web site about the team answers a hypothetical question, “Can’t you just make people leave campus if they are a problem?” in this way: “When people remain part of the Virginia Tech community, on-campus resources are available to them, and campus administrators are in contact with them to provide support they might not have if they were removed.”
In Arizona, people can be sent involuntarily for a mental health exam after any concerned party applies for a court-ordered evaluation, which can lead to mandated treatment....
There are many states that have laws which allow 'persons of concern' to be picked up for evaluation and possibly for commitment. People involved with substance abuse are the best candidates and are often referred to treatment, but, others that are considered a 'social problem' are released after the initial evaluation and/or if committed they stay a few days to a week, take the medication perscribed and released after they are 'in compliance' to return home to simply stop taking the medication perscribed.
This has all been tried before and it is why the best way to prevent and stop violence is to eliminate the weapons that cause them.
It is nealy as psychotic to believe in the USA that any citizen has to fear for their lives enough they have to arm themselves from their government. That in and of itself is delusional thinking. There is NO WAY anyone could stop the USA military if it were turned loose on the citizens of the country.
There are too many people, in command of those forces, to ALLOW that dynamic to occur. It won't happen. There are agencies of the FBI and CIA and all kinds of civil rights groups that simply 'safeguard' that dynamic from happening. Not that people don't slip through the cracks like McVeigh, or the Holocaust Museum killer, but, for a mass amount of people to 'find a threat' coming from their government is nearly impossible in the USA. I just don't see it. We have to many allies that stand guard over us as well. I just don't see THAT as a viable reason to own guns and ammunition.
The New York Times Article.
...Virginia and Illinois passed laws (click here) requiring colleges and universities to establish multidisciplinary threat-evaluation teams. Today, more than half of the country’s 4,500 colleges and universities “acknowledge the need and have formed some capacity” to assess student threats, said Steven Healy, a former Princeton University police chief, who leads training programs in threat assessment under a grant from the Justice Department. On Tuesday, he was leading a workshop for 70 educators in Phoenix, which he began with a moment of silence.
At Virginia Tech, the Threat Assessment Team — a national model, whose members include the dean of students; the director of counseling; a university lawyer; and Dr. Deisinger, a psychologist who also holds the title of deputy police chief — meets weekly, discussing 6 to 20 cases.
A campus Web site about the team answers a hypothetical question, “Can’t you just make people leave campus if they are a problem?” in this way: “When people remain part of the Virginia Tech community, on-campus resources are available to them, and campus administrators are in contact with them to provide support they might not have if they were removed.”
In Arizona, people can be sent involuntarily for a mental health exam after any concerned party applies for a court-ordered evaluation, which can lead to mandated treatment....
There are many states that have laws which allow 'persons of concern' to be picked up for evaluation and possibly for commitment. People involved with substance abuse are the best candidates and are often referred to treatment, but, others that are considered a 'social problem' are released after the initial evaluation and/or if committed they stay a few days to a week, take the medication perscribed and released after they are 'in compliance' to return home to simply stop taking the medication perscribed.
This has all been tried before and it is why the best way to prevent and stop violence is to eliminate the weapons that cause them.
It is nealy as psychotic to believe in the USA that any citizen has to fear for their lives enough they have to arm themselves from their government. That in and of itself is delusional thinking. There is NO WAY anyone could stop the USA military if it were turned loose on the citizens of the country.
There are too many people, in command of those forces, to ALLOW that dynamic to occur. It won't happen. There are agencies of the FBI and CIA and all kinds of civil rights groups that simply 'safeguard' that dynamic from happening. Not that people don't slip through the cracks like McVeigh, or the Holocaust Museum killer, but, for a mass amount of people to 'find a threat' coming from their government is nearly impossible in the USA. I just don't see it. We have to many allies that stand guard over us as well. I just don't see THAT as a viable reason to own guns and ammunition.
...The timeline (click here) also confirms a previous account by law enforcement officials that Loughner was stopped at 7:30 a.m. by an Arizona Game and Fish Department officer. That officer gave Loughner a verbal warning for running a red light on his way home.
Between 7:31 a.m. and 9:40 a.m., authorities say, Loughner returned to his house, removed a black bag from his vehicle and fled on foot, carrying the bag, after his father, Randy Loughner, confronted him.
Shortly thereafter, a cab driver picked up Loughner from a nearby Circle K convenience store, then dropped him off at a Safeway, the scene of the shooting. At 9:54 a.m., Loughner and the cab driver entered the Safeway to get change for the fare...
His family was beyond being able to intercede with him. No doubt his father was livid because his son was out all night without knowing where he was and what he was doing and whom he was with. It is still my opinion, Loughner was very careful about being 'found out' and measured his behavior around people he came in contact with that could stop him and this is still more proof. He was very covert. The 'label' everyone wants to put on it is 'Lone Wolf.' We have heard the descriptions over and over and over again about how 'nice' people can 'appear' and how they were never preceived as a threat 'like this,' etc., etc., etc. This is really no different. He was going through a 'process of failure' in his life and making up his mind to find meaning in some way.
Boy, oh, boy.
Boy, oh, boy.
