Behavioral Intervention Team established to address threats to students on campus
Tyler Burrus
-Staff Writer-
New measures have been taken to increase STLCC-Meramec’s campus security. Not only on the Meramec campus but nationally, the welfare of students and faculty has become a concern.
The Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) was recently added to Meramec to help students and faculty create a safer learning environment, according to the BIT incident report form.
The BIT intends to prevent individuals from causing harm to themselves or to others. This can also include anyone who has violated the college policies stated in the student handbook or committed any criminal offenses.
Examples of such behavior would include drug or alcohol abuse, theft, assault or any type of property damage. Student misconduct, like sexual harassment, possession of weapons, physical abuse of any kind and academic dishonesty can all lead to the intervention of the BIT team, according to the STLCC website.
“We can keep track of the issues and concerns, but it’s mainly to be proactive and try to get help for students or a faculty member in need,” Linda Nissenbaum, team member and disability support services manager, said.
Members of the Meramec BIT include Linden Crawford, vice president of student affairs; Counselor Jason Duchinsky; Paul Banta, Meramec campus police chief; campus police officer Michael Beach and Nissenbaum.
Similar BIT teams are on both the Florissant Valley and Forest Park campuses.
“People can report this type of behavior to that team so we can intervene before any harm is done to that individual or another student,” Banta said.
According to Nissenbaum, communication between administrators and students is very important. Schools across the country are doing this in response to the Virginia Tech incident in 2007.
“There was a concern where people were not communicating with one another,” Nissenbaum said. “People didn’t know about the psychological issues the person was having.”
Banta said staying aware will make other possible incidents less likely to occur. The BIT and the students, faculty and staff members on campus are part of the process in alleviating the risk of a security breach according to Banta.
“Anybody can do a report– faculty, students and the public,” Nissenbaum said.
If anyone notices suspicious behavior, they are advised to contact campus police, Banta, or the campus counselor, Duchinsky. An incident report form can be filled out online at https://stlcc.edu/forms/incidentreport.html. Any reports filed will be looked into immediately as stated on the informational incident report.
