In light of the Oct. 28 gun slaying of three nursing professors on the UA campus by a failing student, the Tucson school has decided to implement a more stringent policy against threatening students.
"There is a [sentiment] on campus, with the faculty in particular, that they want to have clear options when they wish to remove someone from a class," said UA spokeswoman Sharon Kha.
The review comes after 41-year-old nursing student Robert Stewart Flores Jr. entered a classroom during one of his midterm exams and shot three professors -- Cheryl McGaffic, 44; Barbara Monroe, 45; and Robin Rogers, 50. He then shot and killed himself.
Flores had displayed unstable behavior and was a cause for concern at UA seven years prior to the shooting incident. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Flores submitted a document to the university in 1995, detailing two pages worth of his personal problems, in effort to drop an algebra class.
He wrote: "The pressure of the relationship between my wife and myself, my new job and my desire to be the very best I can are pushing be to a nervous breakdown."
McGaffic had also tried to warn UA administrators when she felt threatened by Flores' presence in her class. She filed a report saying she felt he had "significant behavior problems," and that he was disrespectful and combative.
Though his professors and an adviser had filed complaints, they were lost in the shuffle of university administration and little was ever done to help Flores or prevent his violent actions.
Deborah Sullivan, assistant dean for ASU Student Life, said ASU already has a system for dealing with disruptive student behavior, but it is currently under review.
"If a student becomes disruptive, the problem could be handled pretty quickly," she said.
The current ASU Student Life policy on disruptive students says that an instructor may drop a student from a course "when the student's behavior disrupts the educational process."
According to the policy, the instructor defines "disruptive behavior" depending on each case.
In reaction to UA tightening their system, ASU officials have begun to review their own method for reporting and documenting students who exhibit threatening behavior. Though what is considered threatening behavior is still loosely defined as "disruptive classroom behavior."
"I would like to see ... all complaints and withdrawals reported to Student Life," said ASU Deputy general counsel Nancy Tribbensee.
In 1995, a UA adviser had made note that Flores was "clearly on the edge," but the report was not handled through a uniform database or central office.
UA and ASU are both looking to give priority to such reports and to handle them in a more structured fashion, to expedite help to students who display the need for it. ASU is looking to better organize complaints and withdrawals filed in a central database in order to better track the students they are given to.
Currently, all ASU withdrawals are not centralized and are handled through the individual department of the instructor who filed them.
Tribbensee said the review would not be completed until the spring semester.
"We are always looking at and reviewing policies," Tibbensee said. "But we take the UA shooting very seriously."
Reach the reporter at meagan.pollnow@asu.edu.
