Reporting troublesome behavior: Faculty and staff members should report to the Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) any student behavior that they believe indicates a student may represent a danger to self or to others.

Reports can be sent via the online report form. If the faculty or staff member believes that the threat of danger is imminent, the University Police Department (UPD) should be contacted immediately (662) 241-7777.

The BIT team receives information from across campus; therefore, faculty and staff members also are encouraged to report problematic, disruptive, or anti-social behavior that, although might not trigger serious concerns in isolation, may raise concerns if combined with reports from other sources.

Dealing with disruptive students in the classroom or office area: Faculty and staff have the right to prevent disruptive students from interfering with their right to teach and the right of other students to learn. To this end, faculty and staff may ask a student to refrain from certain behaviors in the classroom or in the office, require a student to meet with them, or, when necessary, ask a disruptive student to leave the classroom or office area. In most situations, behavior that requires a student to be removed from a class or office should be reported to BIT team.

Dealing with students who refuse to leave the classroom or office area when asked: If a student is asked to leave a class or office area because of his or her disruptive behavior and the student refuses, the faculty or staff member must determine whether it is possible to continue to conduct class or office function. If the student appears violent or dangerous, the faculty or staff member should call UPD or ask someone else to place the call. In any case, if class or office staff must be dismissed because of the behavior of a student, then the BIT should be informed.

Avoiding confrontation in the classroom or office area: While in the classroom or office area, faculty and staff members are encouraged to avoid confronting angry students in a manner which may escalate the potential for violent behavior. Meeting with an angry student after class is usually preferable to confronting the student in front of a classroom of students. Students with severe anger management problems should be reported to the BIT team to determine if the behavior represents a pattern for the student or an isolated incident.