9-1-1 on 9-11

These days, it's a given that campus communities must identify and help troubled students. Eastern Kentucky University officials have planned an event to ensure the campus community knows how to deal with students in distress on a date they know no one will ever forget. Next Thursday's "9-1-1 on 9-11" event, a follow-up to a campus workshop held this summer, will bring representatives from various campus offices that help students -- including the offices of Student Health Services, EKU Police, disabilities, student judicial affairs, academic integrity, and others -- into one room to be available to talk as members of the campus community drop in at their convenience. Door prizes, including an iPod Nano and $100 gift certificate to the campus computer store, as well as refreshments, will help draw a crowd.

The event is one part of a comprehensive effort to help educate the campus on how to appropriately handle students who are in distress. A new "Faculty/Staff 911" guide outlines steps to take in various situations and defines disruptive conduct and forms of personal abuse. The guide also lists contacts for issues related to aggression, illness, emotional behavior, and disability and includes a question-and-answer section on classroom disruption. In addition, EKU officials are developing various scenarios that faculty will be able to review on the Blackboard website.