High-profile campus killings spur the creation of mental health teams at colleges across Washington state. The goal is to watch troubled students. Washington campuses are getting more involved in monitoring student mental health in the wake of four high-profile campus killings within the past year.
“The strategy is, the earlier we can get to those students, the greater the likelihood that their concerns can be resolved before they escalate,” said Eric Godfrey, vice provost for student life at the University of Washington.
The UW and Seattle Central Community College both have created teams of mental health professionals to gauge the condition of troubled students and make recommendations about their care.
The UW’s “consultation and assessment team” has been operating for about four months, and Seattle Central’s “risk assessment team” is expected to begin operating before classes start this fall.
When faculty members, friends or family members report peculiar student behavior to campus officials, the teams will assess the seriousness of the situation and recommend to the student how to seek help.
A year ago, UW staff member Rebecca Griego was shot and killed in her Gould Hall office by ex-boyfriend Jonathan Rowan, who then turned the gun on himself. Rowan wasn’t a student at the university, but the murder-suicide prompted the UW to implement new security measures, such as a text-message alert system, crisis hot line and training for its staff.
Seattle Central had a similar scare in October, when a student came to school with a loaded handgun tucked into his pants and two more guns and ammunition clips in his backpack. When questioned by police, the young man said he was fearful for his life and produced a concealed weapons permit.
