Threat Response Task Force Issues Final Report

Campus ClimateCampus Update

Chancellor Block sent the following message to the UCLA Bruin Community.

Dear Bruin Community:

This past February, following the swift arrest of a person in Colorado who had made violent threats and hateful comments towards members of our community, I called for the creation of a task force to comprehensively assess our campus protocols for how threats are analyzed and how the community is notified about them.

Today, the Threat Response Task Force, chaired by Stephen C. Yeazell, the David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, published a thoughtful and comprehensive report (PDF) that I am confident will help improve how we evaluate threats and notify the campus in emergency situations.

The task force report contains a number of valuable recommendations related to providing more holistic and extensive training to appropriate staff on how to identify concerning behavior, the mechanisms in place for reporting potential threats, and the organization of campus units involved in assessing threats. The report also recommends a review of the campus’ BruinAlert emergency notification system, operated by the Office of Emergency Management, as well as the incorporation of a more integrated approach to emergency notification that directly involves our Office of Strategic Communications.

I would like to thank Professor Yeazell and the members of the task force for their time and work on this important report. Other members of the task force included Ana Esquivel, incoming president of Staff Assembly; Musibau Francis Jimoh, 2021-22 president of the Graduate Students Association; Promise Ogunleye, 2021-22 Cultural Affairs Commissioner of the Undergraduate Students Association Council; Robert Pynoos, professor, Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences; and Lucy Tseng, staff advisor to the Regents of the University of California. I would also like to thank Professor of Social Welfare Ron Avi Astor, who served as a subject matter expert to the task force, as well as the staff members who supported its work.

In the months ahead, my administration will work to implement the task force’s recommendations, developing new processes and protocols where appropriate to ensure we improve the ways in which we notify our community of threats and protect the safety of all who live, learn, teach, work and visit at UCLA. In the meantime, I offer my deepest appreciation once again to the members of the task force and all those who supported this valuable work.

Sincerely,