Cho's erratic behavior was common knowledge

Cho's erratic behavior was common knowledge
WASHINGTON - At Virginia Tech it appears everyone who came into contact with 23-year-old madman Cho Seung-Hui noticed his disturbing and erratic behavior. Around two years ago, Cho was investigated by police for stalking two women.

The situation became so bad that Cho had to be removed from class at one point because other students were seemingly afraid to be in the same class as the deranged killer. Later on a court magistrate in Montgomery ruled Cho was "mentally ill" and dangerous. He was asked to be admitted to a mental health hospital.

However he continued to be a part of at Virginia Tech and apparently reformed himself for there were no other crimes of note. Monday's massacre where Cho went on a killing rampage shooting 32 people before turning the gun on himself has begun the inevitable recriminations.

Authorities are debating whether Cho should have been dealt with more aggressively so that Monday's rampage could have been avoided.

The problem goes much deeper in US schools. A report by the National Survey of Counseling Center Directors last year said 40 percent of students had mental issues and this number is rising over the last few years.

"My gut on this is we're going to become more likely to want to remove students from the educational environment," said Kevin Kruger of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. "Everyone's going to be looking at those threshold points, and (ask) 'When do we take more drastic action?'"

That perhaps will be one of the more unfortunate fallouts of Cho's irrational behavior.