When I was a student a good friend of mine got to me one evening and said, with a straight face, he was on his way to Washington.
He'd come up with the plans for a new nuclear attack submarine. He was headed to the Pentagon to discuss it with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. You'll be stunned to find out this was during the week before final exams. That was when everyone on campus was walking about with the glaze over their eyes and muttering uncontrollably. Needless to say my friend ended up in Shands Medical Center and was kept in a locked ward. I went to visit him there. He was completely disjointed and I had no doubt he would have likely hurt himself and/or others if he hadn't been there. I never saw him again. Heard later he went home and found a less difficult way to finish college. No joke intended. he went to Florida State. I realized at that point there were lots of kids like him and they appeared more often during final exams. It appears the University realizes this too and is doing something about it. Oliver Barry CRS,GRI Real Estate Broker Bob Parks Realty 1517 Hunt Club Blvd Gallatin TN 37066 Phone: 615-826-4040 Fax: 615-822-2027 Mobile: 615-972-4239 UF has plan specifically for dealing with troubled students By Nathan Crabbe <mailto:[email protected]> Gainesville SUN Staff writer Published: Friday, March 5, 2010 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 9:12 p.m. The shooting of a University of Florida student has brought attention to the university's process for dealing with students who are considered potential threats to themselves or others. Kofi Adu-Brempong, a 35-year-old doctoral student in geography from Ghana, was shot Tuesday night by university police after a standoff at his campus apartment. Adu-Brempong's colleagues previously had reported concerns that he was acting delusional, prompting police to visit him the day before the shooting occurred. Wayne Griffin, associate director of UF's counseling center, said he hopes the shooting doesn't discourage people from seeking help when they're worried about a student's safety. "We're going to work to remind people that we want to be a caring campus ... and want to avoid a situation like this," he said. Following the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre in which a student fatally shot 32 people, UF and other universities have beefed up the ways they deal with students posing threats to themselves or others. UF officials had met regularly to assess such threats for about five years before Virginia Tech, Griffin said, but the shootings prompted the creation of a four-level assessment process. "The whole point of the process is to be as compassionate as possible ... but at the same time you have to balance that with how the individual's behavior is affecting the community," said Jen Day Shaw, UF's new assistant vice president/dean of students for student affairs. According to a UF police report, geography department chairman Peter Waylen said Adu-Brempong had been having delusional thoughts for at least a year. Adu-Brempong had received help from a UF counselor because he thought his student visa might not be renewed, the report said. Police contacted Adu-Brempong on Monday and tried to get him to speak with a counselor, but he refused, according to the police report. Waylen was at the scene Tuesday trying to get Adu-Brempong to come out of his apartment before the shooting, said Capt. Jeff Holcomb, university police spokesman. An arrest report with more details on the circumstances proceeding the shooting is expected to be filed today. Griffin said university officials typically first try to get students with potential mental health issues to talk with counselors. Police get involved in circumstances when there are concerns about safety, he said. They work to help students check into a hospital or involuntarily commit them in extreme circumstances, he said. "Usually that's the last resort," he said. The first step of the process is the meeting of a UF behavioral consultation team comprising police, the dean of students and other UF officials dealing with areas such as counseling and student judicial affairs. The group typically meets biweekly and deals with cases involving three or four students at each meeting, said Day Shaw. The group can call UF counselors, who are available 24/7 to deal with a variety of circumstances. In cases in which a student exhibits aggressive behavior, team members review a student's background and determine whether a step such as suspending a student or restricting their contact with others is needed. Substantiated threats move the case to another level in which a list of potential targets is identified and potential victims can be informed. In the final level, university police and other emergency services respond to imminent threats. "If we were worried somebody was about to hurt themselves, the police would be called," Day Shaw said. Day Shaw started at UF about two weeks ago but dealt with similar issues in her previous job as dean of students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She said an incident there provided a textbook example for how universities deal with students who pose threats. A former student told a counselor he planned mass violence targeting students on campus. The university banned the student from campus and issued a campus-wide alert. Officials then were able to persuade the student to commit himself to a hospital, Shaw said. She said the goal at both her previous job and at UF is to help students before something more serious happens. "The whole point is to be proactive, get to them early," she said. Staff writer Cindy Swirko contributed to this report. -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
