CCSD 543 Legal and Ethical Issues in College Student Affairs: Professor Dennis Sheridan

Final Exam, - Question 1: Threat Assessment Response by Michael Lopez

The campus shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 were a definitive turning point in higher education in the United States. In 2010 the American National Standards Institute [ANSI] approved a national higher educational risk standard that recommends that colleges and universities implement threat assessment teams [ASME-ITI, 2010]. Currently two states, Virginia and Illinois, mandated requirements for higher education institutes to have threat assessment plans. Threat assessment methodology has been in existence and evolved over the past several decades, and threat assessment models currently being implemented in higher education have their roots in the government and workplace. Prior to the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings few U.S. universities had implemented any campus threat assessment programs. As of October 2012, almost 80 percent of U.S. colleges and universities had started campus threat assessment teams. Threat assessment has rapidly becoming a standard of care within higher education in the United States. Policies of threat assessment consist of the following three principal elements: Risk Assessment This is the clinical assessment of dangerousness based on research into the trends of violence of particular populations, and specific individual factors. Profiling This is the process of comparing an individual with known perpetrators, and comparing and measuring common characteristics. The greater the commonality then the greater the concern would be. Threat Assessment Threat assessment is a deductive and dynamic team process consisting of four distinct parts: 1) discover a person who may pose a threat; 2)gathering information about the person; 3) evaluation whether that person is a threat to others; and 4) developing an individualized plan to manage or reduce the threat.

FAILURE LEADS TO CHANGE The initial shooting by Seung-Hui Cho of two students at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory, and his continued rampage at Norris Hall, a classroom building, were separated by nearly two hours. During this time Virginia Tech believing that the shooting involved people who knew one another, and 1

CCSD 543 Legal and Ethical Issues in College Student Affairs: Professor Dennis Sheridan

Final Exam, - Question 1: Threat Assessment Response by Michael Lopez

failed to issue any campus warning until it was too late. Discovery of video clip that Cho had sent to NBC news reveal Chos portrayal of Columbine High killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as martyrs. Today Virginia Tech takes a much more hands on approach and the chief of police at Virginia Tech now reports to a high level administrator on the campus. The university president, Mr. Charles Steger now meets with every new university police officer.

REPORTING STUDENT BEHAVIORS AND CONCERNS Mr. Eugene Deisinger is the Commander of the Iowa State University Police Division Special Operations Unity, and a licensed psychologist. He is part of Iowa States threat assessment team. It is his job to evaluate all reports of concern and determine if there is any indication of a concern for the campus safety, He evaluates the behavior of the person in the report, assesses the situation, and then manages or controls the situation reducing the threat to the individual himself and others.

ASSESSING AND INTERVENING On April 2, 2009 at Radford University in Virginia the Office of Emergency Preparedness [OEP] received a call from the EMS team, an all student volunteer rescue squat that there had been a fatal shooting one block from campus. Dennis Templeton, director of Radfords OEP had established an emergency operations center [EOC] within fifteen minutes to coordinate with outside emergency responders and law enforcement. Search operations were jointly conducted between the universitys EOC and external agencies, and an arrest of the suspected shooter was made in just over six hours.

THE FUNCTIONING OF A TEAM On April 10, 2008 at Saint Xavier University in Chicago a note reading Be ready to die 4/14 was found in a womens bathroom of a university residence hall by one of the housekeeping staff. This note 2

CCSD 543 Legal and Ethical Issues in College Student Affairs: Professor Dennis Sheridan

Final Exam, - Question 1: Threat Assessment Response by Michael Lopez

was found days after earlier graffiti, which had also threatened to kill. The former note was already under investigation by the Chicago police department. Saint Xaviers emergency management team [EMT] conveyed. The emergency management team consisted of the Universitys president, the vice presidents, the provost, the universitys chief of police, the director of media relations, and the presidents of the faculty senate and the staff council. The EMT consulted with outside agencies with included the Chicago police department and Northern Illinois University. Upon the police determining the dated threat credible the campus was closed and students, staff, and faculty evacuated. The police establish a command post on campus, and all those who entered the university were required to sign in at a central location. On April 15th the Chicago police deemed the threat no longer viable, and the campus reopened with the evacuation process basically reversing itself.

CAUTION AS THE STANDARD OF CARE In Pennsylvania a Northhampton Community College student, Michael Turner age 20, was accused of sending email bomb threats. He was charged with two counts of terrorist threats and harassment and one count of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was held in the Northhampton County prison in lieu of $15000 bail. Mr. Turner was given an interim suspension and will be facing a disciplinary hearing to determine if he will be expelled. There was no disruption to class activities during the police investigation.

STATICAL PROFILE OF THE DANGEROUS Over the past two decades, there have been 14 fatal multiple shooting incidents on college campuses nationwide, of which three assaults were committed by campus outsiders (including one by a visiting parent at Shepherd University and another allegedly by a group of gunmen last month at the University of Central Arkansas). Moreover, eight of the remaining 11 episodes involved 3

CCSD 543 Legal and Ethical Issues in College Student Affairs: Professor Dennis Sheridan

Final Exam, - Question 1: Threat Assessment Response by Michael Lopez

current or former graduate students, nursing or medical students, or law students, not traditional undergraduates. The ages of those 11 gunmen - all of them were men - averaged 31 years, with several of the assailants in their 40s. (Fox et al.,2008, pA42-A43)

CONCLUSION Threat assessment teams should be multidisciplinary and be composed of the various campus departments. These teams should have a definitive mission statement and have the authority to engage in the activities necessary to their purpose. They should have the support of needed internal and external resources necessary to investigate, evaluate, and manage potential or real campus threats. Best practices in threat assessment in higher education would include the following: Forming a team. Build a multidisciplinary team to define objectives and team structure, designate a chair, and train team members. Reporting student behavioral concerns. Create and increase awareness of a reporting structure and procedures. Assessing and intervening with students of concern. Determine if an emergency exists, gather and evaluate student information, and develop an intervention approach. Sharing and documenting information. Understand state and federal privacy laws, and ensure adequate documentation processes.

One of the greater difficulties in approaching threat assessment is often the misinterpretation of the FERPA laws. FERPA laws however do grant exception for issues of health and safety, and assess to staff and faculty who are on threat assessment teams. This should be made clear to all university staff and faculty.

CCSD 543 Legal and Ethical Issues in College Student Affairs: Professor Dennis Sheridan

Final Exam, - Question 1: Threat Assessment Response by Michael Lopez

References

Cornell, Dewey.(2010). Threat assessment in college settings Change. January/February 2010., www.change.org Dwyer, Judith.(2009). Preparing for the unthinkable. The Presidency. Winter 2009., p 38-41 Fox, James Alan. (2008). The troubled student an campus violence: New approaches. Chronicle of Higher Education. November 14, 2008., Vol. 54, no. 12, pA42-A43 Hoover, Eric. & Lipska, Sara.(2008). Colleges refine ways to identify troubled students. Chronicle of Higher Education. April 18, 2008., Vol. 54, no. 32. pA10-A12 Kennedy, Mike.(2007). Crisis on campus. American School and University. May 2007., p18-25 Maxwell, Lesli A.(2007). Copycatting may produce more threats. Education Week. April 25, 2007., Vol. 26, no. 34. P16-16 Randazzo, Marisa R., & Cameron, Kevin.(2012). Colleges refine ways to identify troubled students. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy. October 2012., Vol. 26, p277-290 Scalora, Mario.; Simons, Andre.; & Vanslyke, Shawn. (2010). Campus safety: Assessing and managing threats. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. February 2010., Vol. 1. Schachter, Ron.(2009). Joining forces. Universitybuiness.com. June 2009., p41-44 Selingo, Jeffery.(2008). College leaders wrestle with how to prepare for unknown threats. Chronicle of Higher Education. February 22, 2008., Vol. 54, no. 24. pA17-A17 Unknown author.(2007). College student accused of making threats. Community College Week. March 12, 2007., p14, column 4., www.ccweek.com Unknown author.(2009). New threat assessment guide for campuses. The Presidency. Winter 2009., p10
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