T.UA recently issued a safety report on the events before, during, and after last year’s shooting of Dr. Thomas Meixner, director of the Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences (HAS) Division.
The university commissioned PAX Group LLC to prepare a safety report, analyzing what happened and how such incidents could be avoided.
“PAX’s findings are intended to help people recover from the traumatic effects of this devastating act of violence,” the report said.
The report shows a failure to communicate among leadership groups to assess and address nearly a year’s worth of threats from suspects. His PAX recommendations going forward include important updates on three regular themes. leadership; concise and transparent communication;
Twenty pages contain our own analysis of what happened, but the last 80 or so pages document most of the interactions regarding safety breaches since December 1, 2017. , leading to the pre-shooting events.
“The information presented within this timeline may not identify all instances of events or communications related to the incident,” PAX reported. , based on the information we were able to scrutinize in the review to determine best practices for future threat assessment and management.”
On October 5, 2022, Meixner was shot dead in his office by allegedly Murad Dervish, a displaced graduate student who had an affair with him nearly a year earlier. What started as an altercation over a test with another professor in November 2021 led to an escalation of threats against HAS faculty, students and university staff.
Dervish was suspended, released from his teaching assistant contract with the university, and expelled from the campus. After appealing to the university’s judicial board and continuing to make threats, the suspect was deported in June 2022. Dervish then broke into school grounds prior to the October shootings and repeatedly encountered faculty members, including Meixner.
According to the document, almost all incidents or threats from Dervish have been reported. Multiple university groups were involved in the situation, including the Dean of Students, the UAPD, and the Threat Assessment Management Team. The UAPD filed two indictments against him against Dervish and attempted to arrest him in April 2022. The group was still operating under these circumstances, but not as efficiently as it should have been, the report said.
“Overall, the university culture of moving from incident to incident without improving processes to create clear threat management and investigation strategies has led to missed opportunities for mitigation and intervention,” PAX Group said. says.
After reviewing 79 interviews and thousands of related documents, PAX identified three main themes for four main groups: TAMT, University Crisis Response, Communications Department, and UAPD.
TAMT was not effective for the scope and size of colleges. The team was made up of expert members but lacked direct leadership and a process of engagement and action. Like other groups, TAMT was kept up to date with past reporting guidelines, but the decentralized nature of the team and all involved groups prevented effective communication.
“The ineffective TAMT process led to a series of decisions and actions that repeatedly gave subjects the opportunity to continue to harass and intimidate members of the University of Arizona community,” PAX said. “The decentralization of nearly every major process across campus prevents these individuals from making necessary changes to plans and programs.”
The university’s crisis response included a campus emergency response plan, but it lacked a mechanism to train all key personnel in an emergency. According to the report, many of the people interviewed were unable to recall their last campus-wide drill (for example, a fire drill), but the community actively seeking drills until the incident occurred. There are also few reports of members of
However, as the university is spread across multiple buildings, emergency training is complex and underestimated. This also includes a good warning system.
“Poor security systems and procedures throughout the university and its buildings have left the campus vulnerable to internal and external threats,” PAX said.
The communications department has a UAlert system available to students, but prior to the incident this service was not required. Combined with service glitches and unclear messages, students and faculty were confused about proper safety procedures.
After the shooting, the group was unable to provide assistance and had no clear communication with the community. The Crisis Incident Response Team (CIRT) provides resources during and after the traumatic event, but this team was not called to notify the university of further action following the shooting.
According to the report, university leaders believe sufficient resources have been freed up for the response, but CIRT could be critical for post-incident resources. Overall, much of the ensuing correspondence was disorganized and disjointed.
“Furthermore, no pre-rehearsed and coordinated crisis communication plan existed for the university communications team,” PAX reported. “The lack of a coordinated response between University Communications and he UAPD left communication incomplete and the university community feeling unheard of and unsafe.”
Additionally, while the UAPD was actively involved in Dervish’s case, it failed to track down the suspect at a key moment or establish clear liaison with the Tucson Police Department and the Pima County Attorney’s Office. . Even after Dervish’s ouster, his continued threats led the UAPD to seek out his PCAO. The Secretariat denied the request for charges due to a lack of “specificity, immediacy, and means of carrying out the intimidation.”
PAX uncovered key information from the case that could have been used to obtain approval, but no person, database or other entity where all of it was stored. Afterwards, PAX provided recommendations that included this, as well as recommendations for new leadership positions, improved communication methods, and revised safety strategies.
PAX said: “Combining holistic mental health and community intervention responses as a way to effectively assess, manage and mitigate threats.”
The safety report also includes the university’s efforts since the incident, including revisions and suggestions to its threat management system. Much of their work focuses on improving crisis communication plans and training key staff and his members on emergency safety.
The university produced a report to assess its failure on October 5, 2022, long before the incident. Reports say many of his HAS faculty were left alone to ensure their safety even after contacting university leaders, including Meixner. This report is one of the first steps in fixing a system that has caused student, faculty, and staff failures.
PAX Group notes the impact of the tragedy throughout the report and extends its condolences to all involved. Hopefully, this incident will create a more robust system for keeping the university community safe.
“PAX is particularly aware of the traumatic experiences of the Meixner family and HAS Department survivors,” PAX said. “Everyone we met in this review has been deeply affected by the events of October 5, 2022 and hopes that the results of this review will have meaningful impact and change, creating safer communities. I hope.”
