The committee includes representatives from local law enforcement and university administrative bodies.
Ohio University students and staff may dial 911 when they have an emergency, but when the situation isn't as urgent, they can contact the Student Review and Consultation Committee.
OU's Student Review and Consultation Committee meets once a week to assess cases in which students' behavior raises concerns for themselves and others. Anyone at OU can submit referrals through an online form for the committee’s review.
Patti McSteen, the associate dean of students and chair of the committee, said the committee started in 2006 to provide a more consistent response to concerning behavior.
“Sometimes I would hear from a hall manager or the police that they responded to a call because a person was suicidal or had attempted suicide, and then I could call the student in and make sure they had resources to help them, right?” McSteen said. “But then there were people that were having the same experience, but I didn’t know about.”
Representatives on the committee include members from the Athens and Ohio University police departments, as well as administrative bodies such as Counseling and Psychological Services, the Office of Community Standards and Housing and Residence Life, among others.
McSteen said the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 caused the committee to broaden its focus to include situations where students might be a threat to more people than just themselves.
“We decided that we were not just concerned about people who were having suicidal ideation, but really kind of widening the net to any kind of distress that students might be having that would interfere with their success as a student,” McSteen said.
Since 2006, the committee has received a steady increase in referrals, McSteen said. She said this was at least partially due to an increase in awareness.
The committee's response to referrals depends on the situation.
“Every student is an individual,” McSteen said. “So I would say that for every situation, there’s a different course of action.”
McSteen said she often simply talks to the individual who submitted the referral about the best course of action. Other times she sends a member of Housing and Residence Life staff in students' residence halls to knock on their door and check on them. In other cases, the committee forwards the case to a particular body such as OUPD or the Office of Community Standards.
McSteen said APD and OUPD are “very much a partner” with the committee.
“I have really good faith in the way that they’re trained, and I think they’re really compassionate and caring,” McSteen said.
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers mentioned the committee in a campus-wide email from OUPD to students March 25 following the arrest of a former OU student. The student allegedly assaulted an OU employee and later tried to purchase a firearm, according to a previous Post report.
OUPD Lt. Tim Ryan said after officers conduct wellbeing checks, the department forwards most of them to the committee for review and follow-up.
“That’s the natural place, I think, for the university to kind of take it,” Ryan said.
The committee also forwards cases that are criminal in nature to the department, including cases where the student might pose a threat to the campus community, Ryan said. He said the department might not find out about those cases otherwise.
Koren McConville, a sophomore studying music production, said she hadn’t heard of the committee, but that she would consider submitting a referral if a friend needed help.
“If I felt like someone I knew and cared for was in danger, hell yeah, I would reach out to someone,” McConville said. “There are so many times when things go unnoticed and unsaid, and terrible things happen.”
But on the other hand, McConville said she might not be comfortable with someone reaching out to her if a referral was submitted on her behalf.
“I feel like that would be very invasive,” she said. “I just don’t know how I would feel expressing how I feel to someone I don’t really know.”
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