Spectacular Security Failure at Virginia Tech 
Was it wise to shut down so many large mental hospitals in an exchange for housing mental patients in houses in residential areas?
This practice started under Ronald Reagan's Republican Administration. The popular Reagan mantra then was, "Get the government off people's backs!"
The parents of Cho Seung-Hui knew their son was judged mentally ill after his court trial involving his stalking of two girls. The judge did not commit Cho Seung-Hui to a mental facility, but simply recommended that he could be an outpatient.
They went to the police. The police said they could do nothing. Why didn't they recommend a college counselor? A counselor would have taken Cho Seung-Hui to a college psychologist.
A writing instructor observed his writing involved what she felt was dangerous, sick violence. This instructor recommended that Cho Seung-Hui obtain counseling and insisted on having him removed from her class because he was so disruptive, rather than posting a security guard in her class.
Worst of all, on the horrifying day that Cho Seung-Hui went on his first killing spree episode in the first dorm, it was determined by campus security guards and police not to lock down the entire Virginia Tech campus immediately.
If authorities had done so, announcing that they had not caught the killer, who was on the lamb, it is entirely possible that the worst killing spree in American college history would not have occurred had they announced that a killer was on the loose on campus.
Instead the insane killer was at large and continued his horrific killing spree until 32 lives were lost, including a Holocaust survivor.
Cho Seung-Hui's parents knew very well that their son was seriously mentally ill. The judge did not confine him, but declared he could be an outpatient after his stalking episode involving two girls.
His roommates told police that he was not acting rationally. His writing instructor advised counseling.
Authorities failed miserably, including the police, who did not demand a lockdown after the first killing nightmare began.
KEYWORDS: Cho Seung-Hui, Virginia Tech Tragedy, Ronald Reagan, Failures in the Mental Health System
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