Oh? Toward the end of the thread, they seem like brothers in the cause. The last comment at this time is interesting:

52. concernedstudent - February 09, 2010 at 05:02 pm

Dear factsarehelpful and ethan56,

I am a student involved in the situation, and I have first hand knowledge of the incident. Although this is not the appropriate forum for sharing it, I do want to address the topic of why Professor Hall might not have gone through the administration.

1. Students have shared a great deal of worrying information with university administrators, and no action has been taken. Campus security has told students not to worry about it, and has not taken reports on the situation from some concerned students. Concerned students have been referred primarily to counselors -- the implication being that it is an unfounded worry needing only emotional and not material support.

2. Zak Bucharest told people that he had friends inside campus security. This was relatively public knowledge. It is possible that Professor Hall knew this, or that he suspected it.

3. Given the tepid response by the university after the fact after they were briefed by multiple students on the danger, it is highly likely that no action would have been taken if Professor Hall approached them beforehand. However, they might have prevented him from pursuing the approach he did take as an emergency measure.

I appreciate that both of you have brought this discussion back to a civilized level. There is no reason to believe that Professor Hall is mentally ill. Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe that qualified professionals are investigating Mr. Bucharest's danger. The current investigation is on Professor Hall. No parallel investigation on Mr. Bucharest appears to exist.