<p>An Iraq war veteran has been barred from attending his college classes after writing about his urge to kill in the school's newspaper. Do you think this was fair treatment?</p>
<p>Veteran</a> who wrote about need for violence barred from college campus - CNN.com</p>
<p>Not fair. Banning is not the solution.</p>
<p>I’m sure the school was concerned about a student describing violent urges and wanted to act. In retrospect, having someone chat with the guy might have been a good start.</p>
<p>I think it would be pretty difficult to ignore the situation without running the risk of one of those “Hindsight 20/20” moments. Imagine if the PSD caused a breakdown and subsequent killing spree…and the flak the school would then take since he’d PUBLISHED an essay about his addiction to killing. Someone suffering PSD plus a traumatic head injury certainly warrants a psych eval and ongoing treatment. I think the school is just doing its due diligence.</p>
<p>keep him off school until he gets a lot of help…people with an urge to kill should be separated no matter how sorry their situations are IMHO</p>
<p>Don’t see why people would support keeping someone who describes a need to kill on campus. If I were a student there I sure wouldn’t want someone like that around, veteran or not. =/</p>
<p>We should be proud of our veterans, my entire family is military, but common… I don’t see why this is a controversy.</p>
<p>I believe the faculty did the right thing. They are not permanently banning him -they just want him to get evaluated. Anyone in their right mind would do the same thing. I agree with kmccrindle, what if something happened and they are left saying… "well I thought he was just expressing himself… blah blah blah. In short, I think if the veteran was just spouting some rhetoric to be “read” he sure caused a heap of trouble for himself. If he truly does have these tendencies, then he needs some help.</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
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<p>I think the school failed this young man. First, I think the class professor could have provided some better guidance. Second, the school paper editorial staff could have exercised better judgment.</p>
<p>Of course, in the end, the student is ultimately responsible for his actions.</p>
<p>This just goes to show how out of touch the American public is with veterans. This guy spent months dodging death, trying to kill an insidious and subversive enemy who didn’t have any scrupples about murdering and torturing civilans and soldiers. Then he comes back to America where everyone is busy shopping at the mall, watching Dancing with the Stars, and getting outraged about their poor kids getting bullied. He came back to a country that could care less about him. One that paid him lip service to stroke their conscience, then went on living in their suburban paradise with their heads stuck in the sand.</p>
<p>This guy probably looked around at all the 18 and 19 year old kids in class who cared only for their next joint or beer. He probably spent months and years feeling completely alienated. He had seen what the REAL world was like, what humanity has been doing since its existence, but what we in America pretend only happens in movies and the news. His saw this essay as an opportunity to finally get out what was on his mind. It seemed like a harmless medium. He was probably encouraged by his professor to be as open and controversial as he could. It was probably an incredibly cathartic experience. </p>
<p>Now he’s been put in the same category as Seung-Hui Cho, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold.</p>
<p>Thanks America,</p>
<p>-An OIF veteran</p>
<p>As an OIF veteran, would you describe yourself as addicted to killing, as feeling inexplicable pleasure when cutting someone’s throat?
Or, like veterans in my family, would those killings haunt you?</p>
<p>I actually enjoyed your post above, because it very poignantly describes the kind of experience I suspect many veterans have, and is certainly thought-provoking. I am also sympathetic to the idea that it is entirely possible to become addicted to the adrenalin of combat. </p>
<p>I just think that any administrator worth his or her salt would be duty bound to due dilligence, because as I’m sure you’re aware, veterans are individuals, each with different capabilities. I don’t think anyone is characterizing this student as Dylan Klebold. They’re merely assessing risk, and the fact that the student is a veteran suffering PSD certainly does not reduce the risk the admin has to weigh.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, he is a veteran. Who knows what he saw over seas. It may have scarred him mentally and emotionally, and by writing this, it was his way of expressing his emotions an explaining that he may need help, without actually asking for it. Maybe he wants help, but is to afraid to ask?</p>
<p>Just my opinion, last part is a shot in the dark, but you never know.</p>
<p>We don’t understand what he’s gone through. We can’t escape our bubble, because many of us fail to appreciate how blessed we are through people like him. </p>
<p>He’s going through real problems right now. These deep problems aren’t solved by kicking him off campus. He wrote it for a class essay and his professor encouraged him to get it printed. </p>
<p>Why are we all about celebrating diversity, but when one taboo topic comes up and we get scared? Like I said, we don’t understand, but that doesn’t mean we just ban him from the school. This is sending the wrong message to him and anyone else who is suffering through these issues.</p>
<p>This guy needs help, but the school handled it in totally the wrong way. The editors of the school paper and the professor that encouraged him shouldn’t have let his article be published for everyone to read, they should have brought it up to the school as a concern. Then the school should have prevented him from attending until he got treatment, for his own sake. This all should have been addressed privately without much fanfare.</p>
<p>Because money these days is as hard to come by as an Ivy league scholarship and a mansion, it would not be a good idea for the school to risk a lawsuit by letting the veteran stay on campus. I’m positive the veteran wanted to raise awareness for others in his position; that much is true. But the school cannot risk a lawsuit.</p>
<p>he said that he said that not to foreshadow a school rampage, but to seek help. and plus, don’t you think it’d be kind of stupid to want to kill people and then warn them beforehand?</p>
<p>i say let him go to college. some people might not even want to go to college after fighting for their lives everyday</p>
<p>For all veterans who need some way of expression/writing your experiences, this is the place for you. New York University has a free creative writing workshop exclusively for OIF, and other war veterans.</p>
<p>[NYU</a> Announces New Writing Workshop for Veterans -](<a href=“http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/news/2009/3/9/NYU_Announces_New_Writing_Workshop_for_Veterans]NYU”>http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/news/2009/3/9/NYU_Announces_New_Writing_Workshop_for_Veterans)</p>
<p>I think the administrators might have just banned him for what he wrote rather than any genuine fear. And by kicking him out of campus - where is he supposed to go? For all we know, getting kicked out might just increase his urge to kill. And just because the people at school at safe doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t be at risk. The administrators should’ve referred him to some help.</p>
<p>Being a veteran does not obviate all criticism. It may not be his fault, but an addiction to killing definitely warrants this kind of action.</p>
<p>Yeah, ban him, but give abortion proponents tenure.</p>
<p>Wrong. He said he viewed it as “self-therapy.” To wit, “I’m not saying I’m going to do anything. I’m not. I was just trying to spread awareness, and I guess self-therapy, trying to help myself cope with things and get over things,” he said at his home.</p>
<p>Diagnosed (not surprisingly, in view of his experiences in Iraq) with both PTSD and TBI, he needs FORMAL therapy, and the school’s administrators would be insane, were they to allow him on campus prior to such treatment.</p>