What began as a cut and dry seminar on campus safety put on for faculty members soon developed into a heated dialogue between administration officials and frustrated faculty members.

The seminar, Addressing Faculty and TA Questions about Safety and Our Student, which took place Thursday, was intended for staff, although it was open to the public. No seat was empty as the seminar began.

"As most of you know, there have been some changes on this campus and campuses around the country," said Donald H. Wulff, leader of the Center for Instructional Development and Research, or CIDR. "As a result of recent events, we've stepped up efforts to think about what we can do to make the campus more safe."

Wulff served as the overseer and moderator of the proceedings. Also present at the seminar were David Girts, administrative sergeant of the UW Police Department; Kathryn Hamilton, director of the UW Counseling Center; Gus Kravas, special assistant to the Provost; and Debra Nelson, assistant to the Vice Provost on Student Life.

Hamilton spoke of the UW Counseling Center's role of dealing with any mental health issues that come up not only for students but faculty members as well. Stressing that acts of violence on campuses are statistically very rare; she said that the sort of mental health issues that faculty members should be on the look out for are relatively benign.

"More and more students with psychiatric health issues are coming to school," Hamilton said. "Every survey in the UW Counseling Center in the last 15 years has suggested that more and more people are coming to our attention with mental health issues."

Discussing the student life aspect of campus safety, Nelson brought up the need to ascertain the reasons for why a student may seem to be a security threat. After all, what comes across as a threatening email may actually just be a misunderstanding, she said.

"The Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life is the place to go when you don't know where to go," Nelson said. "We work with students and families, faculty and staff in difficult situations where multiple services are needed to provide a safe transition."

Girts' segment focused on the role of the UW Police Department on campus, and the methods they use to carry out this role. He also spoke at length about the Safe Campus organization, which seeks to raise awareness about campus safety.

"Our primary mission, of course, is to support the University's mission of education and research by protecting the life and property of the citizens, the University community and the visitors that come here," Girts said. "We do this in a variety of ways, some of which you may have experienced and some of which you may have not."

The final speaker of the evening was Kravas. His segment was about the importance of consulting others about students and situations in which one feels that there may be a problem. If one acts alone in a situation without consulting others, it is more likely that one will handle the situation ineffectively.

"I have concluded that it's really not that important who you consult with, because oftentimes when you get a different perspective like that on the situation you start to see that something makes sense or that something doesn't make sense," Kravas said.

[Reach reporter Anthony Michael Erickson at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]