Student safety policies at Arizona’s universities will improve after comprehensive reviews from the Arizona Board of Regents’ student safety coordinator, officials said.

The new position was created by the Arizona Board of Regents as part of a court settlement to review and reform student safety policies within the university system.

The coordinator’s job is to implement necessary changes in the university system’s sexual harassment policies, designate safety officials at each university and provide annual reports to ABOR about student safety issues.

Nancy Tribbensee, ABOR general counsel, was named the first student safety coordinator. She said in an e-mail that her first task is to review university and ABOR policies relating to sexual assault, harassment, discrimination and gender equity.

“Each university has undertaken significant and comprehensive campus safety reviews in recent years,” she said.

By including the results in a system-wide review, ABOR and the universities will benefit from the best practices found at each university and implement changes across the system as needed, she said.

Teams of attorneys, student-conduct professionals and students will assist Tribbensee in the review process.

“Student involvement in the process is critical,” she said. “Students can provide insights regarding their concerns, participate in the review of policies and processes … and assist in disseminating safety information back to the student community.”

Tribbensee said her goal is to have any recommendations for policy or process changes from the review to be fully implemented by the beginning of the fall semester.

“This review is part of the universities’ continuing efforts to support a safe environment for the campus community,” she said.

Baine Kerr, attorney for the former student in the sexual assault case, said his client always wanted the creation of a student safety coordinator for the university system in the settlement, though university officials did not.

“They had to be persuaded that it was a good thing to do,” he said. “Once we got the negotiation going it was very productive and constructive on both sides.”

Kerr said the universities saw some benefit in creating the position, because it meant they did not have to pay as much money in the settlement.

The former student, identified only as “J.K.” in court records, was awarded $850,000 in the settlement — the second-largest amount of money ever awarded in a sexual-assault case.

But both sides agreed that the safety coordinator would cover the safety of all students, not just women.

Kerr said both sides had a lengthy conference with lawyers from ASU, ABOR and the Arizona Attorney General’s office to define the role of the student safety coordinator.

“Our hope also is that the creation of this position … is emulated by universities all over the country and becomes a model for dealing with these extremely important issues,” he said.

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.