Based on the events in April, some schools are making efforts to reevaluate the treatment, specifically concerning the dismissal, of students who may be showing symptoms of mental instability.
Radford University is one of these schools taking a critical look at their system.
Dan Bowman, Radford associate dean of students, said their process is under evaluation and they will make some new decisions relating to students who are incurring mental instability.
"We are certainly well aware of different things that are going on there (at Tech) and we are communicating about this unfortunate situation you guys had this past year," Bowman said.
Depending on the circumstances, Radford may encourage off-campus or on-campus support.
"Based on what has happened at Tech, those are the kinds of things that we are evaluating and making decisions about," Bowman said.
Currently, if a student at Radford has engaged in a major offense such as sequel misconduct, drug violation or a violation of law, they will be subject to dismissal, Bowman said.
Bowman said that Radford has a solid, fair and consistent process for their judicial affairs. Each situation has different circumstances, which the university fully investigates to be fair.
However, student dismissal is not a common practice throughout the year.
"We average somewhere, probably in the neighborhood of five dismissals a year," Bowman said.
As for William & Mary, their assessment of students with mental instabilities is entirely separate from their judicial system.
"We don't have anything in the judicial procedures about mental health because we have a separate system where we address students if they are not able to keep themselves safe or unable to keep others safe," said Patricia Volp, dean of students for William & Mary.
In a really serious situation, a student is put on medical leave from the university. Any student placed on leave must come back with evidence that they have assessed their problem in order to return to campus.
Ultimately, a student has to be able to explain to a committee how they have addressed their behavior. The committee will be looking for stability in mental health. Also, doctors must give recommendations as well as a plan that is reasonable and supports the student's optimal success back at campus, Volp said.
Most of the medical leave cases on the campus at William & Mary are psychological, not physical, Volp said.
There are varying degrees of medical emotional emergency procedure at William & Mary. The policy that states students have to be reported and assessed if anyone on campus learns that they have made a threat or attempted to harm themselves, have experienced a severe psychological distress, or even if their health has deteriorated to such a point that they can not keep themselves safe, Volp said.
The 30-year-old program at William & Mary is sought after by many institutions across the country, Volp said.
As a means to improve their program, William & Mary will be setting up police training this week to inform them of what to do when dealing with a student experiencing mental illness.