Dr. Lipkins says there are always warning signs—and there certainly were in Cho's case. "His writings were rambling. They were violent. We had heard that he was stalking women, that he had supposedly set fire in a dorm, that there were issues on blogs and online that were very, very clear that this was a disturbed man, that he really had a loose connection to reality," she says.
And while some students or faculty might have noticed these warning signs, Dr. Lipkins says there should be a way to act on them. "We need to have a system of triage to fast-track these kinds of concerns so that the administrations take these things seriously," she says.
Dr. Lipkins says it is important for the media to continue focusing on the issue, while universities should examine their budgets for psychological counseling and security services. "We should have training so that when there is an emergency on any campus throughout America, there's a system in place, and more importantly, that all the psychological problems of kids can be taken care of appropriately," she says.
Published 01/01/2006
