Clearing up privacy rules to make for a safer campus

Nearly a year after the Virginia Tech massacre thrust the mental health of the nation's college population into the spotlight, Boston University officials have responded to the findings of reactionary panels and streamlined university health fact-finding and information-sharing processes.

The recent launch of a website to help faculty and staff identify "students in distress," is a good idea, professors said, though far from all college staff know about the resource.

Before the April 16, 2007, massacre that left 33 including shooter Seung Hui Cho dead, individuals within Virginia Tech knew of small clues that suggested Cho suffered mental illness and could be dangerous, according to the Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, convened by Gov. Tim Kaine. "No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots," the panel found.

Misconceptions about restrictions of education and health privacy laws stopped different departments from working together to aid Cho, even though "federal laws and their state counterparts afford ample leeway to share information in potentially dangerous situations," the panel said.

"Asking someone if there's a problem and if you can help them is not crossing the line," BU spokesman Colin Riley said. "If you see someone in distress, it's basic human nature to respond in a compassionate and real way and see if there's something you can do."

The Dean of Students Office and Student Health Services partnered to create the students in distress website at bu.edu/helpinfo.

"I'm glad there's such a thing in principle," Parker Shipton, a College of Arts and Sciences anthropology professor, said. "I haven't read it yet, but this is just the sort of thing that I've been looking for that I haven't seen in the system."

Anita Patterson, a CAS English professor, said she thought the site was a "very useful tool" for teachers.

"Professors are put in the position of being able to know when students are not feeling well, and it's a good thing for them to have clear and accurate sources of information about what they can do," Patterson said.

Shipton said although he realized professors could cross personal lines if they look too deeply into students' problems, he said it was important to try to help students as much as possible.

"It's better to err on the side of caution and tell somebody," Shipton said. "Dealing with student's problems is not our main job, but it's a piece of our job to be concerned."

"Knowing the limits of our own competence is a challenge for us, but also a very important recognition," Shipton said. "We don't know who needs medicine and who doesn't."

Not helping a student at all would be much worse than not intervening for fear of speaking up, Patterson said.

"If a professor doesn't know where the student should be going for this, and they don't say anything to the student, that's one moment of connection that is lost and that could change a student's path in life." Patterson said. "I think that, rather than seeing this as a kind of containment thing, that people should realize that professors are people too, and they do understand students' needs in personal terms and want to help if something's happening and the student is very isolated."

While not explicitly stated in the site, the site was made to help faculty look after their colleagues as well, Riley said.

"Staff and faculty here want people to be able to reach out and help them and recognize change in someone's behavior," Riley said. "Sometimes people go through things they're not comfortable sharing with a colleague, friend, roommate or something like that, and then you're doing the right thing by directing them to the appropriate resources."

John Stivers, a CAS junior, said he had mixed feelings on whether the site was a good idea.

"They have a referral list, which I think is a good idea, because if there's a professor who may not know how to deal with a student he can refer that student to Student Health Services and have someone come in and take a look at them," Stivers said.

Although Stivers said the site was a good idea, he said a site primarily made for student peers to identify and help one another should also be created.

"They definitely need something like this for students also," Stivers said. "Teachers know students a little bit, but students know students better."