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A Message from President Robbins 

On October 5, 2022, we lost a beloved member of our University of Arizona community, Dr. Thomas Meixner, Professor and Department Head of the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences.

Since then, our senior leadership team has been engaged in meaningful and transparent dialogue about what we must do for our students, faculty, and staff. The University engaged with the PAX Group, LLC, nationally recognized security experts, to conduct an independent, comprehensive review of how the University handled threats in advance of the murder of Professor Meixner.

This report helped inform us about what additional or different steps could have been taken to better protect our faculty, staff, students, and visitors and how we can improve our response, policies, and procedures involving campus safety and security in the future.

My promise to our students, faculty, staff, parents, and visitors to campus:

  • We will implement the 33 recommendations included in the PAX Report, and track our progress on this website.
  • We continue to review our campus safety response, particularly as it relates to Professor Meixner;
  • We will vigorously pursue necessary and prudent avenues to enhance community safety, relying on experts to advise us;
  • We will remain steadfast in our commitment to all of you.

I am grateful to everyone who participated in this review process, including those who shared thoughts on campus safety and security and the members of the General Faculty Committee on University Safety for All. Thank you to our faculty, staff, students, and community members who have stepped up to offer your support, your cooperation, your collaboration, and your compassion during this difficult time. We are a resilient community, and we will move forward, together.

Tom Meixner will never be forgotten. The best way to honor his legacy is to make changes, and to deepen our engagement with our work and with one another.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Robbins, President, University of Arizona

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Action Plans for Improvement

The PAX Group Report identified systemic issues across three main themes: Understanding and managing threats; Providing a consistent, empathetic, and compassionate response; and Decentralization and breakdown of communications.

The report's 33 recommendations for improvement fall across four areas within the University community. The recommendations are not a checklist for completion, but rather a guide to continue to focus on safety.

Recommendation Action Areas

Leadership & Oversight

Chief Safety Officer

The CSO will advise the University on safety and security initiatives, including campus building security, safety training, and emergency plans. The CSO will oversee and empower TAMT to evaluate and advise on responses to threatening or potentially violent situations.

Incident Command System

The ICS operating structure that the University employed during the pandemic will be used to address and track our progress in implementing recommendations and other safety-related items deemed necessary.

Safety Advisory Commission

The Commission, comprising Tucson community members and students, staff and faculty – including those who served on the General Faculty Committee on University Safety for All - will advise the CSO on the implementation of all of the report’s 33 recommendations, and overall University safety.

Provide safety feedback

Any member of the University of Arizona community who would like to submit thoughts, concerns or suggestions regarding University safety is invited to do so.

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