UB professor sheds light on campus violence

 
           What drives someone to commit an act of violence in a public place like a college campus?

 
            Students were asking this after the attack on Virginia Tech in 2007 and raised the same question last Tuesday, when there was the threat of a potential gunman on campus.

 
            While it hasn't yet been determined if there even was a suspicious person with a gun in Lockwood Library, students are clamoring for concrete answers as well as more psychological ones.

 
            If there was a gunman on campus, what would cause him to bring his weapon to campus? Why do seemingly ordinary college students become driven to acts of violence that could put thousands of people at risk?

 
            Dr. Steven L. Dubovsky, a professor and chairman of psychiatry in the UB School of Medicine, has some answers, but not all of them. He points out that in situations like that of Virginia Tech and the potential threat of last Tuesday, there are no concrete explanations and the answers to 'why' questions often come with disclaimers.

 
            One thing Dubovsky can say for sure is that a majority of those who commit violent crimes are not mentally ill and don't have religious pretenses.

 
            'It's not people who are defending themselves against imaginary threats. It's generally a person who is just angry and has a very low frustration tolerance,' Dubovsky said. 'They're individuals with a history of violent behavior who take [their anger] out on people who can't fight back.'

 
            Dubovsky said that despite pop culture references and urban legends made famous by crime shows, the individuals who resort to violence are typically what society would call 'normal.' They don't exhibit any alarming behavior in the public realm. They have a history of violence but are good at masking it from their peers.

 
            These individuals have what Dubovsky calls a 'defective characteristic.' They can't properly showcase or deal with stress, which leads them to violence.

 
            'It's people who feel that they don't have power, but they have fantasies of having power,' Dubovsky said.

 
            By planning violent actions against their peers, these individuals fulfill their fantasies and, in their minds, attain a powerful position within the society that they couldn't adjust to.

 
            'These are ineffective people who are poorly adjusted to society,' Dubovsky said.

 
            There are some students on campus who feel that if a threat can come from a relatively normal student, then they should be able to protect themselves, especially on a campus as large at UB's, where the police to student ratio is low.

 
            Mark Webb, leader of UB's chapter of the Concealed Campus movement, feels that students should be able to carry weapons on campus in case they ever feel the need to defend themselves against a threat.

 
            Webb was more than disappointed in the university's response to Tuesday's incident. It was this response that led him to mobilize this movement on campus.

 
            'UB's response … as far as getting information [to the faculty and students] was poor. Social networks were much faster,' Webb said. 'It took cops 35 minutes to clear out Lockwood. If this was a real shooter, he would have already finished his business and we would have had a body count by then.'

 
            Webb feels that having a gun-free campus is really just an invitation to those who want to be violent to carry out their plans.

 
            '[The violent people] don't need to worry about their victims being armed,' Webb said.

 
            Dubovsky feels that this is dubious logic due to the fact that it is, more often than not, impossible to detect or predict when tragedy might strike.

 
             'These things happen for many different reasons. These aren't mentally ill or unstable people. They're just people who can't properly deal with anger,' Dubovsky said. 'It's too hard to predict; all you can do is prepare.'

 
 

 
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