Posted on 08/27/2007 2:38:54 AM PDT by Timeout
...Professors and school administrators at Virginia Tech could not have known of Cho's emotional disability -- Fairfax [high school] officials were forbidden from telling them. Federal privacy and disability laws prohibit high schools from sharing with colleges private information such as a student's special education coding or disability, according to high school and college guidance and admissions officials. Those laws also prohibit colleges from asking for such information.
The only way Virginia Tech officials would have known about Cho's anxiety and selective mutism would have been if Cho or his parents told them about it and asked for accommodations to help him, as he had received in Fairfax. Cho's disability was first reported in the Wall Street Journal and will be explored further when a panel appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) releases an investigative report about the shootings.
...
The reason, explained Barmak Nassirian, with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, is that in the competitive admissions process, students don't want to be at a disadvantage. As recently as 2003, parental pressure caused the College Board to stop flagging SAT scores for students who had been given special education accommodations while taking the test.
Moreover, many colleges say they don't want to know because of the potential liability. "In soliciting a student's history of psychiatric treatment or diagnoses by treating physicians, you basically open a Pandora's box," Nassirian said. "Even if you should decide, for reasons that have nothing to do with medical circumstances, not to accept a student, you most certainly will have a case that will be litigated."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
After decades of treating dangerously ill/malevolent children as "disabled", we got Columbine and its aftermath. The elites took to the airwaves and told us such violence was unprecedented and blamed it on guns, violent videos, etc. What they failed to tell us was that, unlike all previous history, disturbed and/or dangerous individuals had been "mainstreamed" to the point that it was actually illegal for schools and/or other institutions to remove what they considered a threat to public safety (might require a value judgement and we can't have bureaucrats doing THAT!).
It'll be interesting to see if the Kaine Commission is allowed access to Cho's "private records".
Laws are made to protect Society from individuals. They got it half A backwards on this one.
The Ivory Tower Dwellers don’t want to be held responsible in either case. They don’t want to be “litigated” if some mental defective isn’t chosen for their university OR if that same mental defective goes over the edge and kills other peoples’ kids. They want to be held harmless in all cases.
I am flabbergasted that somebody on a conservative forum would write a statement like this.
This is exactly what liberals, communists, and statists say when they start talking about gun control or other convenient social restrictions. Saying that the basis of Law is to protect society from 'individuals' is nothing less than spitting on the Constitution. The United States is powerful because the Law was designed to protect individuals from society and the state. Not the other way around. Are you arguing that we would be better off if everyone fit into their assigned social boxes?
“Society” has the right to be protected from drunk drivers. And from convicted sex offenders (though we know how well THAT one works!).
The problem here is that the liberal elite community began to treat mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. as “disabilities” rather than as psychotic disorders posing a danger to the public. “Privacy” prevented the public from even being informed of the potential dangers.
For example: suppose Cho had been covicted of sexual assault as a juvenile, his high school knew about it, and he exhibited no sign of rehabilitation. Should THAT be disclosed to the university?
I would think that Congress or legislatures could give them limited immunity.
The only way?
Well, VT admitted him. Couldn't they go back to interviewing students for admission? Then they'd get a peek at someone with a severe personality disorder and get a chance to decide whether they really belong on campus.
Interviewing as a condition of the admission process has apparently gone by the wayside, I've been told.
And how many of us would NOT be diagnosed with a “disorder” of some sort or another in today’s world? There is a disorder for every conceivable problem - all by today’s medical and psychological excuse-giving world....
It is kind of like crying wolf - eventually, folks just tune it out. Disorder-this, and disorder-that.
It sounds like colleges for the most part, don’t want to know and don’t care to protect students or staff.
This only strengthens the need for students and teachers to be allowed to carry concealed weaponry.
Nobody will know til “hell breaks loose” and the only line of defense will be immediate and self-protection of oneself and the ones around self.
I guarantee you he was admitted because of his immigrant status. You know, diversity is the most important thing.
I disagree. I think laws are made to protect INDIVIDUALS from individuals, among other things.
"Special educational accommodations" may include someone to read the questions to the student, someone to write the answers, a distraction-free environment, and extra time on the test.
Those special accommodations will continue to be offered once the student is admitted to college. Most common is extra time on exams. I have been told to give some students 250% time on exams to accommodate a "learning disability." That, I was assured by the disability "experts" at my university, was entirely appropriate. (They never would explain how they arrived at 250%.)
I once objected that allowing a student two and a half hours to take a one-hour exam would give him an unfair advantage. Not so, said the "experts"; it merely "levels the playing field." Besides, they said, in real life (outside the university), the ability to work quickly is not important.
In other words, time is not money, and the graduate will continue to expect special accommodations on the job. Nothing could convince the disability "experts" that an engineer who cannot read because of a learning disability will be a severe liability on the job. Apparently, they expected the employer to hire a reader, provide a distraction-free environment, and arrange extended work deadlines for the learning-disabled engineer.
Never mind what VA Tech knew. Cho knew that VA Tech was unarmed.
It goes to the problem of moral relativism. "Rules" and "findings" are designed to eliminate every possible situation where a bureaucrat might have to make a "value judgment". Just do it by the book and your job is safe.
Bureaucrat thinks to self:
"Let's see here. Student has exhibited past anti-social behavior. Diagnosed with a disorder that poses a threat to students and society. But, heck, he's graduating and it would be unfair to "label" him for potential colleges. So---I go to my little rule book---and, voila!, there's the rule that says I CAN'T inform them. Whew. Saved by the rule book...no one can blame me! It's the law's fault!"
[ed: apply above rule to falling bridges, killers out on parole, etc.]
They'll probably want to avoid that for fear of litigation.
Exactly. The bureaucracy pushes for these “compassionate” laws protecting the individual’s privacy. Then, when their lack of scrutiny proves fatal, they can say they did everything by the book.
Amazing how easy my job would be if I never had to make value judgments about employees, vendors, etc!
Since when? When does this happen, in multiple classrooms of a college?
If it were true, this sentence would be an indictment of Virginia Tech.
I don't believe it. I call horsesh!t on the whole article.
I don’t get your point. Are you speculating that students and professors wouldn’t be so “uncaring”?
And then the proximity implication is that students would taunt him in the classes....multiple classes. What college do you know of where that would be tolerated in one class....much less several classes.
Nothing about that sentence is believable. If it were the truth then Virginia Tech is not a professional college and needs to have a bunch of people fired.
But, again, I don't believe it. I think the authors are making it up or, at the very least, printing irresponsible, unproven accusations to further the "gotcha" value of the article.
Well...I have a little reservation about the point of the article. We can never identify and isolate all the unstable people in society. Sure, it’s nice to try, but not too effective. What we can do is allow people to protect themselves from the unstable by not disarming the good guys.
This article makes Cho’s family look worse and worse. They knew their boy was severely screwed up and rather than take responsibility and help him themselves they dumped him on society (and the government) while withholding critical information. Maybe Cho’s victims should sue Cho’s family for failing to warn VaTech that Cho was such a head case.
I would give that more weight if we didn’t know there were high school officials, psychiatrists, hospital personnel, a judge and countless others who knew how sick he was. But none of them rocked the politically-correct boat. Apparently, none even considered notifying the university.
But they all “did their jobs”!
On the other hand, commitment is a judicial process well grounded in the law. Apparantly the school (VA Tech) asked a judge to take action and the judge punted.
It's still a public record.
At the same time the school VIOLATED current national building codes regarding the type and quality of doors and door opening/locking mechanisms allowed at main entrances of public access buildings, as well as violating the current building code regarding such devices at main hallways and classrooms.
That's what gave Cho the opportunity to continue killing students long after the cops had arrived ~ they couldn't get into the builidng ~ the main doors had been locked with a simple chain!
The failure of the judge to act properly, and the inability of Cho's highschool to notify VA Tech in no way relieve the administration and government board of their responsibility in this tragedy.
They must all be punished.
We have waited entirely too long for a round of mass resignations with this crowd of Democrat party syncophants.
It is my understanding that it would have been illegal for them to have done so, and Cho's parents knew or should have known this. He was their son. They could have asked for help. They didn't and dozens died.
What it means is your course probably wasn’t terribly critical to anyone beyond meeting requirements for a degree.
I think that applied to Highschool and earlier school experiences ~
Alas, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires such accomodations in every course, critical or otherwise.
The Americans With Disabilities Act requires that you first be disabled to take advantage of it.
Let's give you an example of a "disability" ~ my top typing speed was 238 WPM. Not near there today ~ maybe 120 to 140 tops ~ age kills ~ but I always thought it was manifestly unfair to REQUIRE that final exams had to be given with blue books that required pen and ink.
As far as I was concerned those 1 hour tests should have been reduced to 15 minutes and everyone should be required to type their little statements/answers.
Obviously those who couldn't type would have been quite handicapped compared to me. Didn't bother me a bit. Unfortunately, though, the university administration was mired in the 1st century and wouldn't budge.
The disabilities act would have continued to give them 37.5 minutes and I would have been limited to 15 minutes.
Today, though, those guys are still handicapped and lucky enough to be allowed to even read FreeRepublic while you and I can be masters of the universe simply because we can type.
A little article I submitted elsewhere:
Three Ways To Improve Campus Security
Regardless of who is to blame and for what, VT reminds us that in an age of terrorist threat it is only common sense to improve awareness in the public sphere.
Here are three easy, effective, and non-invasive ways of improving campus security:
1) EMERGENCY WARNING ALARMS: In Iraq, American bases are equipped with simple emergency warning sirens and loudspeakers that provide 100 percent coverage throughout the base. If you are awake you’ll heard it (and usually you’ll be awakened from your sound sleep, given the volume).
CODE RED is a simple but unique sound that means “Go to a safe location; heighten your awareness; stand by for further information.” After anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes comes either a reiteration of the CODE RED siren or the unique CODE YELLOW alarm.
CODE YELLOW is a second unique sound that means the threat has been reduced, but only designated and critical personnel may move about freely, while others are to stay in their present (presumably safer) locations. Usually CODE YELLOW includes some kind of verbal instruction.
CODE GREEN or ALL CLEAR means the threat has been addressed and personnel may resume their normal duties and locations.
This system is simple, affordable and effective in keeping people out of harm’s way during actual or potential emergencies.
2) EMERGENCY ALERTING: The counties of Northern Virginia and indeed all of Metro DC participate in a regional emergency alerting system via the Roam Secure Alert Network.
Best described by the participating counties themselves, the system is “an emergency communication system used by governments, emergency management agencies and first responders to send emergency alerts, notifications and updates to your cell phone, pager, Blackberry, PDA and/or e-mail account.”
It goes on to say that “In the event of an emergency, such as a terrorist attack or severe weather incident, Arlington County emergency management personnel will send important alerts, updates and instructions right to your cell phone or mobile device using your device’s text message (SMS) feature, and/or to your e-mail account(s).”
The system provides nearly realtime information and updates, and is incredibly easy for even the most ardent technophobe to setup and use.
Anyone interested should read the Arlington County pages at www.arlingtonalert.com, or check Roam’s own pages at www.roamsecure.net.
3) AWARENESS AND SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING: Undoubtedly the most controversial aspect of campus security, Awareness and Self-defense Training can be anything from a one-hour mandatory seminar on campus security, to various and optional courses on personal self-defense, and perhaps a campus monitoring program similar to Neighborhood Watch.
There is no need to convert the college campus into a fortress. But it is necessary to improve alerting and awareness, and to admit that these measures will unfortunately be needed at some college campus sometime in the future.
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