Campus tragedies involving students with psychological disabilities highlight the need for campuses to be prepared to anticipate and respond to student risk and threats. Identifying and responding to students who may pose a threat of harm to themselves or others forces administrators to walk a fine line between over- and under-response. In order to respond effectively, campus administrators must draw on the best practices from the student development, mental health, campus safety, and risk management fields while complying with legal and regulatory requirements.
This webcast series tackles the toughest questions surrounding how you can support the best interest of students while mitigating risk for your institution through legally sound policies. Over the course of three sessions, our expert instructors will help you think through the ways you can develop a comprehensive and integrated risk management approach to policy development that provides a thorough framework to more accurately identify and respond to students of concern.
While each session has a specific focus, the series will address:
How applicable laws, regulations, and best practices can be reflected in your campus protocols.
Policy intersections between behavioral intervention teams and other student conduct campus policies and practices.
The intersection between mental health issues and the student conduct system, with a focus on student behavior.
Make the most of this content by inviting your whole team, including your campus legal counsel.
Who should attend?
Senior and mid-level student affairs administrators, academic advising administrators, student health center staff, residence life staff, academic deans, campus legal counsel, case managers, student conduct officers, campus safety and security personnel, risk managers, and those who work with students with disabilities will learn how to examine campus policies in light of the intersection of risk, legal liability, and student safety.
Agenda
Session 1: Balancing Campus Safety and Legal Liabilities
Learning Outcome: After participating in this webcast, you will be able to translate your campus’s legal and safety issues into effective policies and practices.
This session will provide an overview of applicable laws, regulations, and case law related to students with psychological disabilities and those who may pose a threat of harm to self or others. Relevant aspects of FERPA, HIPAA, and recent revisions to Title II and III of the ADA regulations will be discussed. Voluntary and involuntary withdrawal procedures will also be reviewed. The focus will be on translating the legal and campus safety issues into effective policies and practices.
Everyone knows the law, but the devil is in the details
Today’s legal landscape
Risk management: philosophy and context
Preventive and proactive assessment, planning, and policy development and implementation for your campus
Session 2: Threat Assessment and Behavioral Intervention: Best Practices for Policy Development
Learning Outcome: After participating in this webcast, you will be able to develop and evaluate your intervention team policies to ensure a consistent response across campus.
This session will outline best practices in identification, evaluation, and response to threats; the philosophy behind the composition and purpose of threat or behavioral intervention teams; and research on students who pose threats and administrative considerations as you form, implement, and manage your teams. You will consider how your threat or behavioral intervention team policies intersect with existing policies and procedures and how best to create a seamless, integrated, and collaborative intersection for effective response. We will also discuss the evolving role of case management in the threat assessment process.
Threat and violence on campus: legal context for threat assessment
Identifying, evaluating, and responding to student threats
Threat assessment and behavioral intervention teams
Voluntary and involuntary withdrawal procedures
The role of case management
Creating effective policies and practices
Session 3: Student Conduct Systems: Accommodations for Students with Psychological Disabilities
Learning Outcome: After participating in this webcast, you will be able to identify possible improvements to your conduct policy that reflect appropriate response to student behavior, including providing accommodations for students with psychological disabilities.
This session will investigate the intersection between mental health issues and the disciplinary or student conduct system, with a focus on student behavior. Presenters will share appropriate legal issues, policy considerations, and best practices related to student conduct/judicial proceedings. They will examine current alternative practices that address the various needs of a diverse student body. Discussion will focus on changes or modifications to current disciplinary processes and practices to take into consideration the sometimes unique needs and interests of students with mental health disabilities. The relationship between the student conduct process and other campuses responses, such as threat assessment and behavioral intervention teams, will also be discussed.
The role of a student conduct system on campus: the intersection of student mental health and student conduct
Legal considerations in addressing student conduct: case law and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
Reasonable accommodations and modifications to the student conduct process/system
Checklist for responding appropriately to student conduct-related issues involving students with mental health issues
