A year after Virginia Tech, campuses strive to be vigilant

Professors are coming forward to talk about suspicious students. Mental health counselors are reaching out to troubled students. Campus police are spending thousands on cameras, electronic locks and communication tools.

In the year since the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech left 33 dead, universities across the nation have responded.

"The world changed, Virginia Tech changed higher education in a way that I had never seen," said Gerald Rinehart, vice provost for student affairs at the University of Minnesota. "I can't think of anything that has made us so rapidly investigate our technologies, our communications systems, how we communicate about students."

It was one year ago today that Seung-Hui Cho killed two students in a Virginia Tech dorm and then opened fire in a classroom building on the Blacksburg, Va., campus, killing 30 others. The Virginia Tech shootings -- and subsequent shootings at Delaware State University and Northern Illinois University -- showed how college campuses are vulnerable because of their openness.

"Unless you happen to be at the right place at the right time, you're not going to be able to prevent it," said Ray Thrower, the director of safety and security at Gustavus Adolphus College and current president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. "What happened at Virginia Tech could have happened anywhere, and that's scary."

Still, universities have spent the past year revising their safety measures and communication tools.

The University of Minnesota is expanding both the number of cameras on campus, including "smart" cameras that are programmed to alert officers when it notices certain behaviors. Many schools have purchased intercoms, loudspeakers and systems that can send mass text messages.

Campuses are also paying closer attention to the mental health of students and attempting to identify troubled students and get them help long before they might hurt themselves or others. That process, in many cases, is initiated by professors.

Jane Canney, the vice president for student affairs at the University of St. Thomas, said faculty members there have been more interested in learning about warning signs in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.

"They're much more proactive now, rather than hoping it goes away," Canney said.

At the University of Minnesota, "there's clearly an increased sensitivity and awareness among faculty and staff and, I think, students about 'odd' behavior," Rinehart said. "We saw immediately after Virginia Tech many more calls from faculty expressing concerns about students in their classrooms, even in summer school."

Share information

In addition, the U formalized a committee for the first time that looks at threat assessment and intervention that allows different departments on campus -- including the police -- to share information.

"One of the things we found after Virginia Tech is that a student who shows up in one area causing trouble probably has shown up in other areas, as well," Rinehart said. "The ability to share that info is critical if we're going to have a response and effective intervention. The group has met much more than they thought they were going to have to, but it's absolutely essential."

Rinehart said the outcomes have been largely positive. Most students have been invited in to meet with a counselor.

"One of the first cases we've had, there were folks who thought we needed police intervention immediately," Rinehart said. "There were others who thought we should hold off on it. Turns out, we found a balanced response and the student has complied with everything that we asked this person to do and it's worked out great."

The shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois took place in academic buildings. Students more accustomed to worrying about walking around campus at night are now thinking about how they might evacuate a classroom.

"Students are definitely more aware of classroom safety," said Emma Olson, the president of the University of Minnesota Student Association. "They know they have be more aware of their surroundings."

The mental health of students is a growing concern on college campuses. Earlier this year, the U reported that the number of students counseled grew 26 percent from the 2002-03 school year to 2006-07, and students treated in the mental health clinic at Boynton Health Service grew 20 percent during that time.

In addition, 31 U students committed suicide between January 2000 and August 2007.

Kyla Steinmeyer is an officer with the University of Minnesota group Active Minds. The group's goal is to help eliminate the stigma of mental health treatment among students and encourage them to use the school's counseling and mental health services.

"It's such a big campus," said Steinmeyer, a junior studying psychology. "It's easy for freshmen to get lost and feel isolated and alone."

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478