Steven Barber, a 23-year-old student at the University of Virginia at Wise, got expelled from school after submitting a piece of dark literature in his creative writing class.

This is the story in summation, but it's not as linear as it seems. In Barber's fiction piece, the protagonist is on the verge of a mental break, which leads to murder and suicide. In Virgina, not long ago, the fictional subject matter covered in Barber's essay was all too real, when Seung-Hui Cho opened fired on his fellow students and took his own life in the same day.

Barber, fortunately, does not intend to kill his fellow University of Virginia students. Barber wants to continue and complete his undergraduate study, and that's it. Despite incriminating evidence pointing his way (after his professor set off an alarm to administrators, his property was searched and three guns were recovered), he was released from his mandatory psychological evaluation with a clean bill of mental health. 

The University of Virginia will not allow Barber back on campus.

As a 23-year-old, Barber is allowed to have guns on campus; all of them were acquired legally. In terms of his mental stability, Barber has not been proven to be a threat to others or himself. Unlike Cho, his last work of fiction was the only one that displayed dark subject matter.

So why can't he return to campus?

Edgar Allen Poe, who also called the University of Virginia home, would have been expelled under the same circumstances. Events like the Virginia Tech killings have heightened restrictions on creative license on campus, in other words students may have to shy away from musings reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk.

Universities, including Boston University, University of New Mexico, and Virginia Tech, have published literature containing new policies to ensure safety on campus. Though the new standards may violate civil and privacy rights, these universities are still able to invade and restrict the lives of students, if there is "reasonable" evidence for doing so. 

Basically, your school can do whatever they want, if they deem you a "threat." In Barber's sad story, threat construction trumps all, he has been denied his appeal to resume his undergraduate study.