A student was found bound and gagged with tape in a bathroom at the Law Center on Monday.
It was later confirmed that the student was facing a mental health crisis and made the situation look like a kidnapping.
“A student was dealing with difficult personal issues and was in crisis,” University of Houston Police Department Lt. Bret Collier said. “(It) manifested in some unusual behaviors, including a claim of abduction that was later recanted and definitively verified by UHPD investigators not to have occurred. UHPD has taken steps to see that the student gets appropriate help.”
According to abovethelaw.com, Dean Leonard Baynes emailed everyone at the Law Center the following letter:
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students:
There have been unsubstantiated reports of an abduction of a student at the Law Center today.
The University of Houston Police Department has now confirmed that no abduction or crime of violence took place. The student was experiencing a personal crisis. The matter has been closed.
Safety is priority of my administration, and faculty, staff, and students should remain vigilant at all times.
UH offers a security escort service for those who study or work in the evening or any time safety is of concern. You can call 3-3333 to request for a UHPD Security Officer or Police Officer to walk with you to your vehicle or to another location on campus. You can also call the same number to report any suspicious or unusual activity.
Regards,
Leonard M. Baynes
Dean and Professor of Law
The student is under the care of the University and is receiving help.
“Please recognize that this was a person having a mental health crisis,” Collier said. “While the particular way that was exhibited was dramatic, she is getting help.”
For students seeking mental health services, contact the Counseling and Psychological Services or the University of Houston Police Department of Public Safety at (713) 743-3333.
CORRECTION: The letter form Dean Baynes was not initially attributed to abovethelaw.com
Mental Health is a HUGELY under-addressed issue on this campus that needs to be talked about NOW before campus carry becomes instituted on campus.
Mental illness is definitely under-addressed, but research suggests it isn’t an indicator of violence. Alcohol and drug abuse are, however, positively correlated with violent behavior. Guess what’s more common on college campuses?
Guess how many mass college campus shooters were mentally ill and we neither drunk nor on drugs, and who took their own lives with a gun after slaughtering their victims? That’s right — nearly every single one since 1966. The killers aren’t getting drunk or high before killing their peers and professors; they’re getting guns. And every single one was a student at the campus where the shootings occurred. Except Amy Bishop, and she was a faculty member who shot three of her colleagues in cold blood. And she was not drunk or high. Just an diagnosed. schizophrenic, it turns out. And she was very “law abiding” before that day.
I was addressing violence in general on college campuses, not just mass shootings.
There are so many flaws in your logic. Where to start?
1. The fact that college shooters are generally students is irrelevant. Does it matter if the shooter comes from outside or within? No. The new law allows any CHL holder to carry on campus, not just students and faculty.
2. It is illegal for a mentally ill individual in Texas to possess a firearm. They cannot obtain a CHL and thus the new law does not apply to them. It would be illegal for them to carry a firearm anywhere. What? You mean mass murderers don’t care about bringing a gun into a gun free zone when they want to kill people? Shocking, I know. It’s like they know there aren’t guns around to shoot back at them.
3. Guess how many college campus shooters had abused alcohol or drugs in the past? That’s right, just about every single one of them.
4. You can’t demonize or punish a “law abiding” citizen for something they haven’t done yet. That would be called tyranny.
My point is this. Don’t use the mentally ill as a scapegoat for every violent atrocity. There are normal people who make bad choices (such as gang members doing drive bys) and there are mentally ill people who aren’t making their own choices clearly (such as psychotic schizophrenics). Don’t confuse the two.
The “illegality” argument is such an absurd deflection it’ would be laughable if it were not so deadly as a pathetic attempt at logic. Most addicts can be quite convincing. I know; I worked with them for years. The folks getting guns are getting them mostly from “legal” gun owners. When will you gun addicts stop enabling and supporting them with your idiotic us vs. them logic. If you support gun violence by excusing it — by any means– , you are abetting it. That’s as simple as it gets. You don’t want gun restrictions: you’re part of the problem. Sane gun owners understand this. They also want serious gun restrictions and certainly none on a college campus. Go try your gun sales pitch elsewhere.
The “illegality” argument is yours, “GunFreeUH.” That’s why I mocked it. It isn’t a rationalization. It merely reveals the absurdity behind many anti gun violence laws that sound nice but lack any real effect. I don’t support gun violence. I do believe some restrictions are necessary, but I believe there are far more effective means of reducing gun violence than those currently implemented. I believe the new law will actually reduce gun violence, because college universities will no longer be such easy targets for mass shootings. Nothing catastrophic has happened in Utah yet. Gun free zones are the most targeted areas for a reason. People have a right to defend themselves.
“Sane gun owners understand this. They also want serious gun restrictions and certainly no guns on a college campus.”
Your argument is essentially “everyone who doesn’t agree with me is stupid.” Really? That’s best fallacious argument you could come up with? This IS Texas. There are plenty of sane, responsible gun owners who support campus carry. That’s part of the reason it’s a law in the first place.
P.S. Great to know I’m a “gun addict” and “gun-violence” peddling imbecile. I learn something new every day.
Jason, your either an SCC member, or received your rhetorical “training” from the Leadership Institute or both. LI is a well-known Tea-Party Patriots – supported organization and your argument is entirely part of the party line. One can find these counter-arguments in the SCC handbook — provided to its members (of which I have a copy) and all over the web repeated ad nauseum. They are not new, original, or even debate-worthy. They are just pre-fab talking and thinking points provided to you to regurgitate at the first opportunity. The very fact that you rely on them demonstrate clearly how utterly indoctrinated you are into their pro-gun gang, not at all that you are concerned with the reality of gun violence. Being someone’s zombie makes you part of the problem. I’ve seen and read these same, hackneyed arguments hundreds of times. So have most others who know how to think outside the box of “group think”. Get away from the puppet masters and back into the real world and help stop the violence, or just be part of the pro-gun campaign of callous denial and distraction. Your choice.
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
One can hardly wait for Concealed Carry to come to UH. With such obvious cases of untreated mental illness on our campus what could possibly go wrong with an unbalanced student with easy access to a gun? Texas is currently 48th in the nation for mental health spending per capita. That should cheer anyone concerned with gun violence and its connection to mental health.
Again, what connection does gun violence (towards others) have to mental health? Right, there isn’t a statistically significant one. If there is, cite a credible study.
Every student on campus already has easy access to a gun. It’s called driving a couple miles off campus to a pawn shop or Walmart. Mass shootings are almost never spontaneous. They are generally planned.
Better idea: try talking to any crime expert or you’re friendly, neighborhood psychotherapist. Sounds like you’re over-due for a session or two.
Funny you should say that. My best friend’s father IS a crime expert. I’ve had plenty of conversations with him.
Back to your “everyone is an idiot who doesn’t agree with me” arguments? How mature. At least I know basic grammar (*your, not you’re).