Last Wednesday, Xin Yang, a Chinese graduate student, was decapitated on the campus of Virginia Tech in the Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center while having coffee with
Haiyang Zhu, the alleged killer.
And while this murder has not drawn nearly as much attention as the 2007 campus massacre, Yang’s murder was a traumatizing experience that cannot help but bring back memories from two years ago.
The stresses of a college student can, at times, be overwhelming and hard to bear. Being far away from home, surrounded by people from all over the world is oftentimes a culture shock for students who choose to attend college.
These emotions may often result in irritability, depression and anger. Typically, mentally healthy students can overcome these anxieties, but in other instances, those unable to control their anger lash out against those around them.
This time, 60,000 alert messages were sent to Virginia Tech students notifying them of Wednesday night’s events. Unlike the 2007 murders, the suspect was already in custody by the time the notification messages had been sent.
So what does this mean for Virginia Tech? What does this mean for college students all over the world? Unfortunately, those who intend to kill will do so unless caught before they get the chance, and sadly, this rarely happens. Zhu is rumored to have expressed his frustrations in an online blog and even spoke of wanting to kill someone. However, Zhu was never approached about his postings. The likelihood of every posting on the Internet being true is slim and it would be nearly impossible for officials to question every person who posts questionable material on the Internet.
However, Virginia Tech is home to the largest mass campus slaying in United States history and threats involving or made by people on that campus should be taken seriously for the sake of students and faculty.
If you or someone that you know is experiencing emotions that lead to suicidal thoughts or urges to harm someone else, then help should be sought at the on-campus counseling center.
Most schools –– if not all –– have counseling centers and students fail to take advantage of this resource.
Emotional distress is not out of the ordinary and can be corrected if addressed in time. For more information about Howard’s Counseling Center contact (202) 806-6870.
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