Moderator: Jade Davis
Producer: Sammy Shaktah
Anchor: Daniel Martindale
Social Media Editor: Jiani Navarro
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Kealani, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro and Sammy Shaktah
Although the United States makes up less than five percent of the world’s population, 31 percent of mass shootings happen here, according to CNN.
Law enforcement experts, mental health professionals, politicians and survivors continue to ask what the driving force is behind these mass shootings, and whether there is any way to predict or prevent them.
The Parkland Florida shooter told authorities he heard voices in his head giving him instructions on what to do to conduct the attack, and Nashville’s Waffle House gunman claimed Taylor Swift was stalking him. Many experts say easier access to mental health treatment would help, but warn against suggesting that all mental illness leads to violence.
“The connection between violence and mental health often [leads to a] stigma,” Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health program manager James Coomes said. “It’s actually counterproductive [because] it prevents people from accessing mental health services if they need them.”
“Sometimes people think if someone is hearing voices that is somehow criminal, and someone should be locked up for that,” Coomes said, “[but] people live with psychosis every day.”
Many suggest that people be encouraged to speak up when they suspect a friend, classmate, or family member is contemplating violence.
“I definitely do believe there are signs,” U.S. Department of Justice investigator Sgt. Rod Clayton said. “Whether we adhere to them, or report them in a timely matter, is our biggest question.”
“The reality is one and every four people experience a major mental health issue at some point in their life,” Coomes said. “The vast majority of people who are experiencing mental health issues are not prone to violence. So, if we’re trying to predict who is going to engage in a violent act and who isn’t, there might be signs, like a collection of weapons, or aggressive behavior, [but not always].”
Others say parents should limit exposure to violent video games and movies.
“I would attribute a lot of it, in my personal opinion, to what we see or what we see our kids do on social media and video games,” Clayton said. “Anytime you can see where a person is becoming desensitized by what they see on the internet or the video games, there needs to be some intervention.”
Some say that if the mass media and social media users would stop reporting, sharing, reposting or retweeting the names, faces and detailed histories of killers, there might be a reduction in mass shootings, and some studies do suggest that ‘media contagion’ may be a factor.
“Media makes people copycat what they see,” Clayton said. “Now we see it more [and] people want to do it more. [It’s like] what we experienced in the late 90’s with vehicle pursuits. We saw it on the news so everybody wanted to do it.”
Crime statistics suggest society is not actually more violent overall, even as these mass shootings increase. But Americans don’t feel safer.
“In a public opinion poll, it was asked how much violence is out there in 2016,” CSUN Communication Studies Professor David Keating said, “and 70 percent of Americans thought 2016 was more violent than 2015. But the crime rate has been steadily declining for a couple of decades now.”
Law enforcement experts and mental health professionals said awareness can help.
“Learning to engage each other, and accepting each other a little bit more, and having more tolerance for each other [can help],” Coomes said. “Being open to a family member or friend that might be experiencing something they may not feel is normal or acceptable, and giving them an opportunity to talk about it, and then engaging support around them [can help].”
Moderator: Sammy Shaktah
Producer: Jiani Navarro
Anchor: Kaylee Kealani
Social Media Editor: Daniel Martindale
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Kealani, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro, Sammy Shaktah
Almost one in ten California State University – Northridge students live in student housing.
Most would agree that a positive experience living on campus is made possible with the support from residential advisors. R.A’s take on many different roles, and spend a significant amount of time getting to know the residents. The list of their responsibilities is long.
“Crisis management; conflict resolution; budgeting for events; financial managing; making sure that you’re building community; putting on programs on your floor; making sure you’re documenting incidents; and information and making sure things are communicated effectively,” said Alwayne Spencer, a former residential advisor at CSUN.
R.A’s at CSUN used to be compensated for their work through a stipend, and with free room and a meal plan, but, as of August 2017, the stipend was taken away. Now, many R.A’s and dorm residents are wondering why R.A’s are not getting paid for what they do.
“Our R.A, Taylor, does so much for us,” said a current CSUN housing resident who asked to remain anonymous. “He’s always there for us when we need him. Sometimes he gets phone calls at 6 a.m, telling him to unlock a door or something from the outside, and [now] he doesn’t even get payment for it.”
In fall 2017 a meeting was held to see how R.A’s can be better taken care of, and some R.A’s asked then if it would be possible to be paid more.
“…[CSUN] housing makes … around 3 to 8 million dollars a month on residents who are paying for housing,” said Spencer. “If we all get a raise, and get paid such and such an amount, it wouldn’t put a dent in housing’s budget.”
But instead of getting a raise, Spencer said residential advisors were informed, via email, that their stipends will be ending altogether.
“The Chancellor’s office sent a memo to HR in June,” said Melissa Giles, CSUN’s Associate Director of Residential Life. “It did ask all CSU housing departments to compensate student residential student leaders, R.A’s, mentors, with only in-kind compensation, [meaning] they removed the R.A classification from the classification standards, rending us unable to use it anymore.”
After the classification was taken away, R.A’s started receiving 200 dining dollars and 14 meals per week. But many R.A’s said that form of compensation was not enough, especially when their R.A stipend had been their only source of income, and they had been given no warning of the change.
“I think we did deserve a stipend, and it wasn’t clear why it was taken away,” said a current residential advisor, who asked to remain anonymous.
“To me, [taking it away] was quite disrespectful,” Spencer said. “But also [the change] caught everyone by surprise, only because [the stipend system was] what R.A’s initially signed up for.” Spencer said he resigned from his position in protest.
Giles said CSUN had no alternative but to stop paying the R.A.s with a stipend. “By taking away the R.A classification, there was just no way to pay the R.A’s anymore,” she said.
Representatives from other CSU’s, such as San Diego State University and Humboldt State University, said they still paid their residential advisors.
“That is an option: to pay [them as] a student assistant,”Giles said. “[But] we were told in the memo very specifically that we couldn’t pay for R.A responsibilities. I can’t speak for other campuses and what their HR departments have advised, but we go with what our HR tells us.”
Still, many R.A.s and dorm residents said R.A.s are an important part of dorm life.
“We juggle a lot of residents, about 54 students on a floor, the average is probably 33,” Spencer said. “So I feel like we do a lot of work, so I believe that’s worth enough to get paid.”
Moderator: Daniel Martindale
Producer: Jade Davis
Anchor: Sammy Shaktah
Social Media Editor: Kaylee Fagan
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Fagan, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro, Sammy Shaktah
