Posted on 04/18/2007 10:26:20 PM PDT by george76
Nearly two years earlier,( Nikki ) Giovanni had stood up to Cho Seung-Hui ...
He wore sunglasses to class and pulled his maroon knit cap down low over his forehead. When she tried to get him to participate in class discussion, his answer was silence.
"Sometimes, students try to intimidate you," ... "And I just assumed that he was trying to assert himself."
But then female students began complaining about Cho.
About five weeks into the semester, students told Giovanni that Cho was taking photographs of their legs and knees under the desks with his cell phone. She told him to stop, but the damage was already done.
Female students refused to come to class, submitting their work by computer instead. As for Cho, he was not adding anything to the classroom atmosphere, only detracting.
Police asked Giovanni not to disclose the exact content or nature of Cho's poetry. But she said it was not violent like other writings that have been circulating.
It was more invasive.
Roy alerted student affairs, the dean's office, even the campus police, but each said there was nothing they could do if Cho had made no overt threats against himself or others. So Roy took him on as a kind of personal tutor.
Giovanni encountered Cho only once after she removed him from class. She was walking down a campus path and noticed him coming toward her. They maintained eye contact until passing each other.
Giovanni, who had survived lung cancer, was determined she would not blink first.
"I was not going to look away as if I were afraid," she said. "To me he was a bully, and I had no fear of this child."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“Thank God these people have been taken in by universities, otherwise they would probably be in the employment of a pimp somewhere (or worse).”
This no talent “poet” seems to be injecting herself in this whole affair. If she were white, she would be working in the cafeteria.
When he kept saying 'you made me..', 'you made me..', I kept thinking, who the heck is he talking about ? It certainly was not us. We did not even know him from Adam. Clearly someone had done him some perceived terrible wrong, but who was that person ? The rich person who drove the 'Mercedes Benz' ? None of what he said really made any sense. It was just reactionary nonsense.
The author of this article mixed the two people up.
My sister's law partner has a paranoid schiz son, and they have done everything they could possibly do, to help him. He was cherished and loved in appropriate ways by a nurturing, intelligent Catholic family with other siblings who are normal. It has been agonizing for everyone, to try to protect and help their son, and to protect society. There is no permanent lockdown ward that they can sequester him in--the long-term institutions closed down decades ago, and he has run away from every residential facility they found for him.
We had a neighbor who developed this mental illness in his 50s after his wife died (their children, normal, are grown). He had been a fine and loving person, although I suppose the potential had always been there. Since he lived alone in a rural area, he was quite far gone by the time anyone knew he was sick. This fine man became dangerous to everyone, and was eventually put in prison for crimes (not including murder--no humans were harmed) He may be released, though, some day. Then what?
No one knows how to treat this illness effectively without the use of force. In my first example, the young man is content to be homeless, to avoid taking the medication he needs to function safely in society. He hates the medication, says it takes away his independence and makes him a robot. How would you treat that? So far, he has only threatened family members and himself. In spite of being treated (many times) in a locked facility, he cannot be held forever, according to the law.
In the second example, the man is in prison and is over 60 yo now, he may die of heart disease or something else before his sentence (for arson) is up. Or he may be discharged, still suffering from that mental illness.
In my opinion, there are serious mental illnesses that require long-term institutional treatment, but there are no longer state institutions to house the patients. Also my opinion, these illnesses can exist completely independent of social or familial context. I don't blame Cho's family, my heart goes out to them in sorrow.
Any idea what institution? Any idea how much they cost?
She would have figured out something.
I teach at a small university, and on the first day of the semester I distribute a document that lists the expected behavior for each grade. Under “F” is the phrase: actively prevents the learning of others. Let me tell you, the first time I noticed such behavior in him (intimidating appearance, cell phone, etc) I would have confronted him and told him that he was working on an F.
Didn’t a court rule him a danger to himself and others? I thought the court could have him placed in a mental hospital against his will if that was necessary. This doesn’t happen any more?
Sure. In my state, Missouri, for a 96 hour evaluation. If the person is capable of lying (and many paranoid schiz are) they can deny being a danger to themselves or others, and legally they cannot be held further.
I worked in neuropsych as a nurse; if a patient does not want to attend followup treatment, they can rarely be forced to do so.
Whoa, I didn’t know that. So you’re saying that an insane person that is a danger to society can’t be locked up? What about that lady in Texas that drowned her 5 kids? They can only be locked up AFTER committing a crime?
They can only be locked up for a limited time. As far as I know, absent a crime, 21 days (must be ordered by a judge) is the longest time a person can be locked up.
The juxtaposition of the selfishness to selflessness is truly bittersweet .
Since you have expertise in the area of mental health perhaps you could help. I’m trying to remember when it was exactly that there were articles appearing in newspapers and commentaries on TV about state institutions emptying and long term mental ill patients being let out onto the streets. Wasn’t it in the late 80’s? There was concern then about those who are non-violent and had no place to live wandering the streets but also about the violent ones. This closing of mental heath facilities is it a public money issue or a court decision based on individual freedom? Thanks for any clafication you are willing to give.
Actually, it was more the discovery of the major tranquilizers that affected the closing of the mental institutions. Mellaril, Thorazine, Haldol, other medications were found to be (somewhat) effective in reducing psychotic ideation and behavior. All of them have significant side effects, but those were minimized in discussions of treatment if I recall correctly.
It was thought that people who, before, could not function in society could be mainstreamed and wouldn’t have to be locked up.
Actually, this was a major disaster, in my humble opinion.
I agree. I didn’t like all Giovanni had to say at the rally, she it seemed to me that she spoke the language of students. And she DID see this man for the problem he was. I asked my husband about this last night. He is a college professor and used to teach at VT, although he’s now at a small college further north. He said that with the behavior he exhibited that’s now coming out, he thinks he would have been expelled had he attended hubby’s college. It’s not easy to get rid of troublesome students, but not impossible either.
Says who? Her? She's a self promoting hack and in my opinion she is no different than the wh*re in the Duke Lacrosse case who tried to enrich herself by making false claims.
This new age 'professor' needs to take her elephant and ride off into the sunset.
IMHO
Psychotic people live in their own worlds which may or may not or only partially resemble reality.
.....I had no fear of this child.”.....
If she considers her students to be children, she is a menace.
Your absolutely right! This is the way it is at Penn State - if you are white you get to clean the toilets, otherwise your are in the privileged class. It’s the white liberal administration’s way of making the white folk in the area pay for something they did not do.
If you want your child to become a panty wasted liberal spouting dribble, send them to good old PSU where the mind of a white child is a good thing to waste.
I took her class, back in 1991 or so. Nikki Giovanni is a trip. She told stories of how, back when Muhammed Ali was stripped of his medals for refusing the draft and couldn't get a professional fight, he went on a poetry reading tour with her. She also recounts how once, in an interview, George Foreman said "I don't know much about literature, but I understand Nikki Giovanni's poetry."
As you might guess, she's something of a boxing fan. She never thought Holyfield would take the title, though. I guess that makes her a better fan than prognosticator.
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