Arizona shooting reminiscent of MSU incident of a few months ago

Jared Loughner

When journalists began digging into the past of Jared Loughner and published accounts of his erratic behavior at Pima Community College, it reminded me a situation on campus a few months ago at Minnesota State University.

Remember that guy? He wasn't a student, but was presumably on campus as a prospective student. I wrote about it here in case you're interested.

And then this article appeared in the Huffington Post this morning ... Makes me wonder if I should call around and see if colleges and universities have done much lately as far as examining the way they deal with students who have mental health issues. Mmmmm ... Perhaps.

Mental health issues are a tricky one for colleges, or any industry. As mental illness becomes less stigmatized, more people are getting help. And more people battling mental illness who otherwise might not have braved higher education are indeed pursuing it. Unfortunately, sometimes people simply aren't ready, and problems arise. Colleges need to be equipped to handle them when they do.

From what I can tell, the incident at MSU was handled well. Let's hope a situation more dangerous doesn't erupt anywhere around here (or anywhere else, for that matter.) We all remember what happened at Virginia Tech, and at Northern Illinois and the handful of other colleges where shootings took place.

Here's another look at the issue

And another, this time from the Washington Post