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UA outlines new safety measures

Aftermath of professor’s murder

By: Craig Smith

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A new safety director, and new ways to report threats—-those are part of the effort to improve campus safety after the on-campus murder of University Professor Thomas Meixner October 5th

Ever since a gunman shot and killed Professor Thomas Meixner there have been calls to enhance campus safety. Now the University is saying more about what it plans to.do.

In an update on campus safety, University President Doctor Robert Robbins introduced Steve Patterson, a retired senior FBI agent serving as interim safety director.

Patterson says, “The overarching overarching theme is, you know, a commitment to the institution building trust, and making sure everybody feels safer.”

University Police will report to Patterson now, as he works to implement the Pax Report, an analysis of UA safetythat noted missed opportunities to prevent the shooting death of Professor Thomas Meixner.

The report proposed 33 recommendations to make the campus safer.

Actions from the report, and other sources include:

A Threat Assessment Team, Social Media Monitoring to catch developing threats, better locks including the ability remotely lockdown buildings, duress buttons to silently call for help, and counseling services for people still struggling to cope with the effect of the October shooting.

The University is urging students and faculty to watch active shooter response training videos it provides. The University may stage full practice drills.

University faculty, students and parents called for better communication in the aftermath of the killing.

This week something prompted the Law School to stop in-person classes. But word was passed by email, without a campus alert. The incident left faculty, and media wondering what happened. Doctor Robbins and Steve Patterson described the move as an abundance of caution and said they didn’t want to say more at the time because they wanted more complete information. Authorities later decided there was no real threat.

Doctor Robbins says he plans to coordinate future concerns through an incident Command System or ICS with part of its mission to share information.

“Erring on the side of over communication and doing it frequently and doing as much as we can tell the university community without creating undue fear.”

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