A policy change approved by Illinois State University's Academic Senate provides more modernized definitions of violence, but some ISU faculty are concerned the process cannot keep up with what they perceive as an escalation in threatening behavior on campus.
On Feb. 5, three men wearing masks entered a 100-level Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies [WGSS] course and began videotaping the class on their cellphones without permission. The instructor confronted the men, who left and were later identified as ISU students. The students told University Police their behavior was a prank directed at a student enrolled in the course.
Students and faculty were “understandably freaked out,” said WGSS director Alison Bailey.
“When someone comes in with a ski mask, what’s the association?” Bailey said. “It’s usually armed robbery or something like that.”
ISU police referred the three students to ISU's office of Student Conduct and Community Responsibilities to review the case. Privacy laws prevented a university spokesperson from disclosing the results of that investigation.
“When the word got out, I was getting a lot of calls, emails and texts from my faculty members who were concerned this might have been a targeted attack,” Bailey said. “It’s hard to say whether it was or not, but the fact is, the students in that class felt that way.”
Bailey sent an open letter to WGSS faculty on Feb. 12 summarizing the concerns she'd collected over the prior week.
“My characterization is, this is not a prank; this is terrorism,” Bailey said in the letter. “If they had walked into a department store, a supermarket or any other public business that way, it would have not been dismissed, I think, as a prank on the front end of things.”
Five weeks later, on March 23, several buildings at Illinois Wesleyan University were the target of a bomb threat received by the University of Illinois Police, intended to disrupt its annual Charity Drag Show. Vice President for Student Affairs Karla Carney-Hall confirmed that Bloomington police screened the campus and, finding no suspicious devices, cleared the event to continue. According to Carney-Hall, the university partnered with the FBI, who determined the threat was not credible.
IWU Director of Campus Safety Mark Tallman said “numerous organizations” received similar threats tailored to the recipients. He said the FBI wouldn’t disclose the names of other targeted institutions.
Under threat
Gender and sexuality studies programs and LGBTQ affinity groups have faced an uphill battle to defend their legitimacy, despite rising popularity. A new report by the National Women’s Studies Association found a sharp increase in interest among students, even as anti-DEI policies and legislation threaten their existence.
Additionally, gender and sexuality studies professors have seen an uptick in threatening and violent behavior on campuses. A targeted attack last year at a Canadian university resulting in the stabbing of three students motivated several universities to remove course instructors and locations from their public websites.
Instructors teaching controversial topics related to race, gender and sexuality are particularly at risk; Bailey cited instances of anti-LGBTQ violence and vandalism on ISU’s campus as stoking fear among the faculty and students in her program.
“I think there’s a lot of evidence that sometimes these things are targeted,” Bailey said. “And even if they’re not, if you’re a member of a disenfranchised group where you’re teaching hot button topics, that’s where your mind goes.”
Among her recommendations, Bailey requested a review of the Student Code of Conduct and increased training to handle non-violent threats such as surveillance and doxing, citing several anecdotes of students harassing ISU faculty online.
“It has a huge impact on the health and the wellbeing of our faculty,” she said.
Bailey met with Heather Dillaway, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and provost Ani Yazedjian to share her concerns.
"I felt heard. I felt seen. But I don't think it went anywhere after that," Bailey said.
In a phone call, Dillaway said it was "absolutely untrue" that her conversation went nowhere, and that ongoing conversations between the provost and Student Affairs have taken place surrounding the need to update what she characterized as a weak Student Code of Conduct.
"This incident was weird," she said, showing "we have to be ready to deal with a range of situations."
Dillaway said the faculty member "handled it perfectly" and current policies provide "no strong ways to support faculty who are dealing with classroom incidents," which is something administrators are discussing in response to several incidents of harassment and disruptive behavior on campus.
Policy v. practice
In a recent interview with WGLT, ISU president Aondover Tarhule said issues are referred to the Academic Senate, which keeps a running list of policies to review on a five-year timeline. Urgent topics can be fast-tracked to the top of the list, with priority ultimately determined by the Senate. Tarhule's office can advise them on an executive procedure to deal with urgent matters.
“Ultimately, guiding policy still has to come out of that shared governance,” he said. “I have no doubt at all that the Senate is taking a look at this issue. They will determine the level of urgency needed and push it to the head of the line if they determine that’s the appropriate course of action.”
At its April meeting, ISU's Academic Senate approved a new policy regarding violence on campus, pending final approval from the Office of General Counsel and Tarhule. Among the changes is a modernized description of communication mediums used to threaten, harass or intimidate another person, which will specifically include social media and text messaging, as well as email, conventional mail and telephone.
Academic Senate Chair Martha Horst confirmed the updated violence policy was part of a regular five-year review, and not in response to any particular event. Horst did not respond to a message asking if Bailey’s request for a policy review had been raised in the Senate.
In a phone call, Yazedjian expressed safety as a top priority and said that work updating the Student Code of Conduct is ongoing. Among proposed changes are new guidelines for first year students about classroom conduct and de-escalation training for faculty to effectively diffuse class disruptions.
Policies and student conduct operate under separate governance and timelines. Yazedjian distinguished between "policies and practices," noting that issues surrounding student behavior defer to Student Affairs and the Code of Conduct rather than the Academic Senate.
“Making our faculty feel safe on campus is in the broader interest of retention,” Bailey said. “We want to keep our faculty here; we want them to feel like they’re supported and belong. When the university doesn’t step up and at least say something, then faculty are left in this liminal space where they don’t know what’s going on and they can only assume the worst.”
WGLT reporter Lyndsay Jones contributed to this story.
