My heart goes out to those who are survivors, who have lost loved ones, those who have been witnesses to the recent horrors, and to the Virginia Tech campus. However, when the press rushes to proclaim another Columbine, and equate University Safety to K-12 Safety, somehow, something important gets overlooked.

The overlooked reality is that today Universities, unlike K-12 districts can do little about students who exhibit aberrant behavior. No longer is a college student a minor child who must dance to the school’s desires. Today, Universities are communities, cities if you will, with 20,000 – 30,000 adults, who bring all the problems with them that any other community brings.

What with federal and state legislatures’ rush to designate persons over 18 years old to be of majority age, today a university student has no different rights from the adult that may live next door to you. If your next door neighbor creates writings that are bizarre, who is to tell? If your next door neighbor is a loner who doesn’t associate with others, who is to force mental health treatment? Certainly you can’t, and neither can the police (unless deemed a danger to himself or others… usually that means suicidal and really acting out)… nor can the Universities seriously impact students who have problems unless a 5150 situation exists.

So, unless the congress and state legislatures are willing to turn back the clock and restore the age of majority to 21, then little more can be done and we must stop comparing this recent horror to Columbine and K-12 safety.