The Legal Side of Campus Threat Assessment and Management: What Student Counselors Need to Know

Abstract

This article identifies what student mental health professionals need to know about legal issues of relevance to threat assessment and management. The article summarizes the common law duties and the common law and statutory standards of care that are likely to apply to the work of college and university threat assessment and management teams. The article also addresses privacy law, disability law, policy, and documentation-related issues that often present challenges in the campus threat assessment and management context. In sum, the article strives to educate student counseling center professionals so that they can contribute effectively to the important work of threat assessment and management teams without being hindered by potential misconceptions about legal issues.

Keywords:

• campus threat assessment legal issues

Notes

Jeffrey J. Nolan is Chair of the Higher Education Practice Group at Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C. (www.dinse.com) and serves as a Senior Consultant to Sigma Threat Management Associates, P.A. (www.SigmaTMA.com) and as a consultant with Margolis, Healy & Associates (www.margolishealy.com). Thomas M. Moncure, Jr., currently serves as University Counsel for George Mason University.