Report slams UA handling of threats before professor's death

TUCSON — The University of Arizona's threat management process was ineffective and its security systems inadequate in the period leading up to the fatal shooting of a hydrology professor, according to a withering consultant's report released by the university Monday.

University President Robert Robbins acknowledged that he, other school officials and the university police department made mistakes, and that the report revealed systemic issues at the university that “should have been identified and corrected.”

“I am angry at myself that I didn’t do more to prevent this tragedy,” he said at a news conference.

The report was released days after the Thomas Meixner family filed a $9 million claim against the Arizona Board of Regents, the governing body for Arizona's public universities, alleging a lack of action by UA before Meixner’s death.

On Oct. 5, Meixner was killed on campus. Murad Dervish, a former graduate student who was accused of threatening Meixner and other faculty and university staff for more than a year, was indicted on first-degree murder and six other felony charges and awaits trial.

The consultant report said the fatal shooting "was not unforseeable" and offered 33 recommendations for the university to implement to improve campus safety. They included creating an interim chief safety officer who will report directly to the Robbins, launching a Campus Safety Advisory Commission and creating a master facility safety plan.

What did the investigation find?

Pax Group LLC, led by Phil Andrew, a former FBI agent, was hired to probe the gaps in campus safety and provide recommendations. The investigation cost the university an estimated $250,000.

The report's recommendations covered threat assessment, threat management, crisis response, the University of Arizona Police Department and university communication.

Andrew, who wrote the report, said his team conducted 80 different interviews, interviewed 120 people and reviewed about 1,200 documents.

The shooting had the same effect on the UA community as a mass shooting, he said, noting five people were targeted.

The university had a Threat Assessment Management Team before the shooting, a multi-disciplinary group of university employees and contractors that was supposed to establish if someone potentially posed a threat of violence to others on campus.

The team was founded in 2002 after a former student shot three faculty from the University of Arizona College of Nursing and himself.

The Threat Assessment Management Team "was not operating in an effective manner, which prevented the University from accurately assessing, managing, and coordinating action to mitigate a real and present threat," the report said.

"As a result, communication between departments as the threat was mounting was not effective and left various departments, faculty members, and staff to handle (Dervish) in their own manner and/or seek their own forms of legal injunctions and protections."

Catch up: Head of UA Hydrology Department, Thomas Meixner, identified as killed in campus shooting

In addition, safety and security training was inconsistent and often nonexistent across campus, and university security systems and procedures were inadequate, the report found.

On the day of the shooting, “emergency alerts were often misunderstood or ignored by the community” and inconsistent and decentralized communications across all departments led to confusion about the location of the shooting and when the threat was over, the report found.

The university announced that Steve Patterson, a former FBI agent, will become the interim chief safety officer and report directly to the university's president. In addition, the university will create a Campus Safety Advisory Commission and work with the PAX Group on a master facility safety plan.

Robbins says communication is the biggest of the needed improvements. He noted in the months leading up to Oct. 5, there was a reluctance to share information between departments about the threat because of privacy concerns.

The report also recommends centralizing communications, reforming the Threat Assessment Management Team, developing clear guidelines for different departments for responding to a crisis and improving communication between the university’s police department and other campus emergency groups and other law enforcement agencies.

Robbins said other ideas to improve campus safety are being considered, such as putting locks on doors and making buildings key accessible, as well as implementing a live broadcast and an emergency siren for campus emergencies.

The report “gives us a good framework and a roadmap to the future that can only be implemented if we all come together and work,” Robbins said.

President apologizes for 'dismissive' response to faculty group

Robbins also apologized for a public statement released by the university criticizing a previous report published by a faculty safety group about events leading up to the shooting, and how the school’s risk management system and other systemic failures were at fault.

“It was a mistake for us to release that dismissive criticism of their work,” he said.

This criticism, the lack of cooperation from university administration, and fear of retaliation led to the disbanding of the group as outlined in a letter sent to the university March 3.

Meixner family files $9 million claim

The Meixner family on Friday filed its $9 million notice of claim, often a precursor to a lawsuit.

The family is represented by the law firm Zwillinger Wulkan and Kuykendall & Associates.

"The University of Arizona sacrificed Professor Tom Meixner’s life, repeatedly ignoring the clear and present danger of a hostile and dangerous student who openly advertised his intent to murder," stated the claim.

In the claim, the attorneys state the university downplayed the situation and threat, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, including threatening and racist emails, text messages as well as public encounters and “failed to report these incidents to the appropriate authorities.”

The Arizona Board of Regents has 60 days to respond to the Meixners’ notice of claim.

“If the University of Arizona fails to accept responsibility and compensate the Meixners for their enormous losses, we are prepared to file a lawsuit to seek the full measure of justice for our clients” attorney Larry Wulkan said in a statement.

Coverage of southern Arizona on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is funded by the nonprofit Report for America in association with The Republic.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Report slams UA handling of threats before hydrology professor's death