"Troubled" Students: Civil Rights and Campus Safety

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Flags at half-staff at IVC

Rebel Girl notes the invitation that landed moments ago (8:21 AM!) in her virtual mailbox:

President Roquemore would like you to know that today's regularly scheduled bi-monthly Thursday President's Forum will be devoted to a discussion on campus safety. You are invited to join the President and Interim Police Chief Jim Pyle as follows:

Thursday, April 19
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Room A126

All are welcome.

She herself will not be able to attend the Forum due to her teaching schedule, but she is glad that folks on campus will be discussing this issue—and she hopes the discussion will continue in a manner that will allow fuller participation.

Indeed, inspired by this week's tragic events in Virginia as well as a series of events this academic year at our own campus, she and a colleague hope to propose a FLEX week session not just devoted to campus safety, but also district policy and civil rights.

Among the questions Rebel Girl would like answered are these:

What exactly should an instructor do when encountering an obviously "troubled" student? (In the past, R.G. has been counseled to show the student in question a copy of the IVC Student Code of Conduct. She must admit that the most troubled students don't seem impressed by this list of behaviors. Of course not, she thinks, they are "troubled" and showing them a list isn't really addressing the problem.)

Is there any way for instructors to be informed of these "troubled" students before they enter our classrooms? (She thinks not but wants to know for sure, nonetheless.)

When, if ever, does protecting the rights of the "troubled" student begin to impact the rights of students, faculty and staff?

—And so many others questions…but it's Thursday and Rebel Girl's plate remains full.

For more, check out these sources:

In Dr. Helen's blog (she is a forensic psychologist), she writes:

What I am amazed by is that in many school shootings, especially in universities, school authorities and others were told that there were problems or in some cases, the eventual killer had already made threats but no one did anything. The schools deny any responsibility at all in most of these cases, although, sometimes, they end up being sued for it. But what is money when people's lives are at stake? It's often the case that when the killer finally lashes out, the people who knew him aren't surprised—they'd been predicting something like this for weeks or months, but no action was taken.

In my opinion, if we have mentally unstable students who have made threats, have behavioral problems, etc. in universities and schools who do not hold themselves or the student accountable for their behavior, there is no other alternative than to extend the civil right to concealed carry to the potential innocent staff and students who may encounter the wrath of such a person. If universities and schools won't take responsibility—and they won't—then someone has to."

—and in today's New York Times, in the essay, "The Killer in the Lecture Hall", Barbara Oakley, professor of engineering at Oakland University, recalls her own run-in with a "troubled" student and the university's reaction, concluding:

"In other words, most of the broad social “lessons” we are being told we must learn from the Virginia Tech shootings have little to do with what allowed the horrors to occur. This is about evil, and about how our universities are able to deal with it as a literary subject but not as a fact of life. Can administrators and deans really continue to leave professors and other college personnel to deal with deeply disturbed students on their own, with only pencils in their defense?"

—and in The Chronicle of Higher Ed, Gary Pavela, an expert on "troubled" students, answers questions, including this one:

Q. In your view of the events in Blacksburg, what else do you see?

A. Looking at everything I’ve read in press accounts so far, this student was a very strange loner who had dark thoughts. So what can you do? You can try and make contact with the student, and I applaud the professor at Virginia Tech who apparently tried to do that. But the bottom line is that I don’t think there is anything close enough to what the federal law would require to have removed the student.

And, of course, let us know what you think, what you have experienced. Have you ever been frightened by a student? Felt threatened? Has a student ever threatened another student? What happened? Posting a comment is easy—and anonymous, if you wish.

Yesterday, in class, Rebel Girl noted that the half-mast flag, usually lowered in honor of dead leaders, was instead lowered in recognition of people just like us.