CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senator Jennifer Jenkins, assistant professor in the humanities program, makes a proposal at a faculty senate meeting yesterday.

Policy aims to restrict threatening behavior

A final decision will have to wait until the fall on how to punish students who exhibit threatening behavior toward teachers.

Yesterday, for the second straight meeting, the Faculty Senate debated details of a policy that would create a central database tracking complaints against students.

The policy, which is already in effect on an interim basis, also allows for the expulsion of students who have twice threatened teachers. It was prompted by the Oct. 28, 2002 shooting of three nursing professors by a disgruntled student who had exhibited threatening behavior in the past, but never been disciplined.

After a question of disciplinary procedure dominated discussion for several minutes, faculty secretary Robert Mitchell directed Saundra Taylor, vice president for campus life, to revise the policy and bring it back to the senate next fall.

Taylor and UA attorney Steve Adamczyk told the senate they were concerned that if the database was accessible campus-wide, it would be difficult to keep within privacy laws.

"I think the burdens outweigh the benefits in that area," Adamczyk said.

They said they preferred leaving the information in the hands of the dean of students, who could work with faculty fearing for their safety.

One faculty member said she was concerned that students might retaliate against teachers who report threatening behavior.

"How will the teacher be protected if the student wants to retaliate?" asked Sen. Sheila Pitt.

Adamczyk repeatedly warned senators that they should also call the police if they are threatened, and he said that protection could be made available if the situation warranted.

"The faculty member is not left in a vacuum," he said.

Sen. Donald Davis also said a student should be automatically dropped from any class in which he or she has been found to have threatened the teacher.

Taylor agreed with Davis, and said a drop would result if an investigation found the student was guilty of making the threat.

The senate yesterday also lent its support to a plan that would allow faculty to assign a portfolio project, term paper or other comprehensive assessment in place of a final exam.

Currently, the course catalog requires that all four-credit courses include a final exam, but faculty in areas like public health and art, where exams can't accurately assess a student's comprehension of the material, asked for this policy change.

"This makes sense because there are a lot of disciplines in which a final exam is not exactly the point," said Sen. Jennifer Jenkins.

After the meeting, Provost George Davis said he believes there are already many classes in which faculty don't give final exams.

"We sense there may be professors on campus who have not chosen to have a final exam," he said.