What Do We Have Here?

Mark is reporting that Hinrichs was clean shaven just two days before he blew himself up with high explosives at a park bench near the Oklahoma University football stadium. I'd like to see confirmation from other sources before proceeding, but if true, this is a significant fact.

Why?

I'll let Mark explain:

... Hinrichs was clean-shaven when he appeared in a Norman, Oklahoma, feed store two days before his death seeking to purchase ammonium nitrate, a main ingredient in the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and in other terrorist attacks around the world.

It should be noted that Islamic suicide bombers often shave just prior to carrying out their deadly acts. This is not "proof" that Hinrichs was on a similar suicide bombing mission, of course, but his beard was one of his most memorable features. His father has said that his son "looked like Abraham Lincoln since he was in high school."

It's not infrequent that college kids want to do things that change appearances, but once again, we've got a situation where the facts and circumstances point in a direction that some simply don't want to go.

The university is changing its counselling policy with respect to certain students who withdraw and come back to the university:

The policy will require that students who have left OU under what is called a “medical withdrawal” be contacted by Goddard’s Counseling and Testing Services should they choose to return to OU.

“One step we are taking is that if a student medically withdraws from OU, a follow-up session will be offered to the student prior to being admitted back to the university to ensure that our students are receiving the attention they need,” Wayne said.

Hinrich’s father, Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr., told The Daily Oct. 3 that his son had gone through several bouts of depression. Hinrich’s father said one of those bouts of depression forced him to take a year off school.

Elsewhere, the OU Daily looks at the depression angle and the heavy workload of engineering students:

The academic pressure that Joel Henry Hinrichs III’s father said factored into Joel’s depression may not have been an isolated case; some of his mechanical engineering classmates can attest to that.

Students in the College of Engineering often struggle to endure the constant stress that accompanies their academic-centered lives, sometimes sacrificing their social lives, among other things.

In an Oct. 3 interview with The Daily, Hinrichs’ father mentioned his son’s supposed hatred of the major but love of technology.

“He was very disillusioned with his major, and I suggested that he change it, but he said ‘Dad, I’m in the very best one right now, and I still hate it,’” Hinrichs’ father said.

Other mechanical engineering students said they have complaints about school. “There’s a lot of professors that just throw work at you without really considering how much time you have to do it, and there’s not always a huge amount of opportunity to get help unless you know a lot of people in the classes,” said Katie Sharp, mechanical engineering junior.

Gee. That sounds like any high quality educational environment. I saw that in undergrad in some courses and some programs at my university, and then again in grad school and law school. These are pressures all students will face at one time or another. You can get disillusioned and depressed over workload or whether you can meet expectations (internally or externally).

Technorati: terrorism, suicide bomber, hinrichs, bomb.