Colleges face dilemma: privacy vs. public safety
The shooting rampage by a Virginia Tech undergrad has intensified debate about how college administrators and campus counselors balance student privacy against public safety.
"That's a fine line," said Mary Beth Collins, director of the Student Health and Counseling Center at Portland State University. What a student tells a counselor remains confidential by law and professional ethics -- except when there is evidence of possible life-threatening harm "to self or others." In those cases, counselors have a "duty to protect" threatened lives.
Cho Seung-Hui, whom police have identified as the killer of 32 other people and himself on the Virginia campus, had a history of disturbing behavior and was briefly sent to a psychiatric hospital under court order because he was deemed dangerous, officials reported Wednesday.
