Sunday, April 22, 2007

Prevent Tragedy, Act in Love

Editorial for the Hyde Park Seminarian, 4/25/07

“There are so many angry people here, [Virginia Tech] could happen to us on this campus.”

These were the words I heard a week ago Monday, while delivering the Seminarian to one of the many campuses here in Hyde Park. They were words that haunted me, because I knew from my own observations that they had a ring of truth. This timely street prophet continued: “Somebody doesn’t get the assignment they wanted, or there’s a problem with a professor or administrator, or they get lost in the bureaucracy…” Indeed, there are many situations of human brokenness that could lead a troubled person to commit acts such as this.

There’s a lot of ways to look at how students are vulnerable in the seminary setting. We are often separated from our families, from our home congregations and communities. In such a large city, finding help for the things that trouble us can be daunting, and expensive. We may not have good support services at our seminaries, or, our seminaries may not feel like safe places to talk about these things. Seminaries themselves are not always the first places we will find healthy, functional, and loving communities that do not cause undue harm to persons. Where the foundations of our faith meet realities of finance, grades, or housing, unjust policies, we can become shaken and vulnerable.

Sometimes, the violence doesn’t turn outward, but inward. Recently, the LSTC student government began to advocate for a ‘suicide policy’ that would guarantee students be treated pastorally and given appropriate health care, rather than be subject to punishment by seminary administration. According to Illinois Equip for Equality, actions such as eviction from student housing and expulsion from an educational program due to mental health conditions are illegal under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (www.equipforequality.org).

There have been some attempts in the media to characterize the student who committed the massacre as a monster, or to demonize him for his mental illness. I don’t believe these statements are helpful. There have also been opinions that perhaps more students or academic personnel should carry weapons, to act more quickly when something like this happens. I think this is only a disaster waiting to happen, as quickly as a moment of heated debate or a little alcohol.

What I do believe is that this is a situation that did not have to happen. Family, classmates, and university and medical personnel all knew this person was troubled. Rather than increasing alienation, greater interventions could have been made, in a loving and supportive manner, that may have prevented such a tragic outcome. Sometimes I think we all want to ‘pass the buck’ because it’s more convenient or comfortable to do so, but are the consequences worth it? Is closing our eyes the mandate for people of faith? It is true that some tragedies we cannot prevent, but that does not release us from doing what we are able.

Finally, safeseminaries.org is a website created, and still being created, for seminary students who feel that they are having unusual difficulties during their theological education. If you have questions, or have resources to contribute that you feel are important, you can visit the website, or contact info@safeseminaries.org.

Pray for the families and communities that have lost so much this week. Act in love and concern for one another. Speak up, wherever you feel most able to do so.

Peace,

Le Anne

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