The Badger Herald: News: Team prevents violence at UW

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Team prevents violence at UW

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Also by Anthony Morgano:

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Study: Law, engineering, business make most cash (March 12, 2008)
Team prevents violence at UW (February 26, 2008)
RCF earns third shot (February 12, 2008)

By Anthony Morgano
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:07 a.m.

6 Vote 0 Votes

In the wake of campus shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, a University of Wisconsin advisory committee says it has stopped potential threats from advancing in Madison.

The Threat Assessment Response Team is “charged with trying to assess specific threats that an individual might pose to others in the campus community and develop a response plan,” said Kevin Helmkamp, assistant dean and co-chair of TART.

The committee says it has recorded several successful interventions upon identifying threatening behavior. Success in this area is difficult to measure, but perhaps success can be defined by what has not happened, Helmkamp said.

“We’re living in a world of damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” Helmkamp said.

The shootings at NIU as well as Virginia Tech have helped the committee to learn a lot, and Helmkamp said he is confident the committee will continue to learn more.

“Northern Illinois triggered a chance to go back and review people,” Helmkamp said. “We try to pay attention to anything that might be a trigger to any activity.”

The committee is comprised of representatives from academic and classified personnel, UW police, University Housing, the Offices of the Dean of Students and the University Health Services counseling center, among others.

According to Helmkamp, all of these are considered “natural points of contact if somebody demonstrates a threat.”

“I think one of the big challenges … is that the flags weren’t raised,” UW Director of Counseling Services Dr. Robert McGrath said in reference to the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University.

He added that while early intervention is key, the perpetrator at NIU was thought by many to be an ideal student and unlikely to be considered a threat by any counseling center.

“One of the goals of the committee … is to try and connect the dots when something is reported to us,” Helmkamp said. “The makeup of the committee allows for a variety of entry points from which to identify individuals that may pose a threat.”

McGrath said UW receives an appropriate level of funding to deal with analyzing potential threats.

“I’d say we’re OK, we’re comfortable,” McGrath said. “It’d be nice if we could expand, but we balance our needs versus not wanting to impose more cost on students.”

He added funding for counseling services at UW comes from a general university fund as well as the student health services fee.

The ability of the counseling center at the university was discussed last this past weekend at the 2008 Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference hosted by UW.

“We’re right up there with the standard,” said McGrath, comparing Wisconsin to the other Big Ten universities, citing TART as an idea shared by the other schools in the conference.

However, TARTt is still a relatively young group.

“It’s a difficult committee … because of the topics and situations we respond to,” Helmkamp said. “We’re still learning about all the things we need to know, but we’re more attentive than a year ago, and I’m confident that in a year from now we’ll be even better at it.”

6 Comments | Leave a comment

Anonymous | February 26, 2008 5:41 AM | Reply
IP hash: 860a05f3

Oh great a UW “Minority Report” team, so do you also lock up and execute those that “might” be a threat as well???

Anonymous | February 26, 2008 7:23 AM | Reply
IP hash: b64b27e7

“Welcome to orientation week. After your placement exams we’ll be taking your personality profile and small urine sample”

Anonymous | February 26, 2008 7:24 AM | Reply
IP hash: b64b27e7

“In the wake of campus shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, a University of Wisconsin advisory committee says it has stopped potential threats from advancing in Madison.”

what?

Anonymous | February 26, 2008 8:16 AM | Reply
IP hash: ae732c2c

There’s only one way to stop the violence: tell all the “cool people” to fuck off! We’re here to get an education, not to admire you and put up with your ridicule of others. Go to hell!

Anonymous | February 26, 2008 9:24 AM | Reply
IP hash: ae732c2c

You’re all a bunch of stupid college kids. You ask for trouble like this. Look at the way you behave.

I can also see the potential for abuse. Students will try to get each other kicked out of school by falsely accusing each other of making terroristic threats, the campus cops will arrest the accused and the accused will be immediately expelled, no questions asked. Just another university policy that will be abused over and over again.

Ya gotta love Madison liberals. They have a solution for everything.