Carol Cinclair, world languages professor, had an incident that caused her to appreciate the experience and professionalism of her fellow employees.

Last Thursday, June 19, there was an incident with a student in a classroom in Building L. It happened shortly after noon. The student was being disruptive and the adjunct professor was very concerned and somewhat frightened by the student. I was the only full time faculty member around at the time. She asked if she could call the police and I told her, “Yes.” Then, I hung around to back her up.

I am writing to compliment our police officers and to tell you how proud I was of the way they handled the incident. There were four officers in all. They were calm, professional, and very competent. They did nothing to inflame the incident or embarrass the student. But they did handle the situation to the satisfaction of all.

Later, I talked with the adjunct professor and she said the student had changed his behavior and it had been a “learning experience” for him. What better outcome could we ask for?

I know that the police officers were responding based on procedures and policies that have been established over time by our Police Department. It takes work, training and practice to perform that professionally.

I just had to let you know. Too often we see good things happen on campus and we just let them slip by. However, I always feel that our Police Department really has a positive attitude and it shows in the work they do. I am sure that there are little mistakes that are made every now and then. But they always seem to get the big things so right.

I am grateful for their work.

Carol Cinclair

George Herring, vice president of business services, responded to Carol’s message.

Carol,

You just made my day! Ordinarily all I hear is what we didn’t do right or what is wrong with something. I very much appreciate your kind words and perspective on this incident. Most of my folks typically do not get the opportunity to formally teach in the classroom, but obviously we do sometimes participate in our students’ “learning experiences”. Our police officers do spend a lot of time training to handle these kinds of matters and it is always our intent that they turn out this well. I am so glad this one ended on a positive note.

Thank you for sharing this with me.

George Herring