So yesterday afternoon, a colleague (call them B.) came to me and said "have you ever filled out a report form for a student you are concerned about because of mental health issues?"
I said no - my only instance of a student with mental-health issues was well before the current system and it was fairly minor - a student disclosed to me he had been put on a medication, and he felt that that medication was causing him to have thoughts of self harm. I urged him to go to the campus health office that was set up for helping with mental health, he did, he got help, and everything was good.
This is much more serious. The student seems to be....not in touch with reality. B. showed me some of the e-mails that the student sent. B. said they would fill out the report anyway, even if they didn't know how much it would help.
(I am using gender neutral pronouns here to try to obscure who all is involved).
Well, just a couple minutes ago, my colleague P. stopped by and said "Hey I don't want to freak anyone out, but B's student has e-mailed and is demanding to meet with B. We're thinking it's prudent for everyone to stay in their offices with the doors locked, security has been called."
The complicating factor is there's an event today in part of the building which means there are some high school students present. It's entirely possible that the security call also involves campus security helping those students get to a safer location.
Anyway. I just heard B's graduate student say "oh, the police are here. Like the POLICE police" (meaning: not just the campus cops - most of whom I know, from both using Motor Pool over the years and also having had to get some help while my knee was injured. Anyway, stuff just got kind of real.
I don't know when/if the student is due. I might have just gone home except I have that paper revision (which is not as big and hairy as I feared) and I wanted to work on it. I had cancelled lab for this afternoon - I was holding today back as a "rain date" for an outdoor lab and we were able to do it before Spring Break. (At least my students in that class won't be around, then, if anything happens).
I admit I'm anxious though I can overhear some colleagues talking in the hall (and an unfamiliar voice, which might be a police officer)
I'll also note that P. (the person who warned me) is going through some extended medical treatment for something potentially serious and my first thought when they said "I don't want to freak anyone out, but..." was "oh no, they got really bad medical news and feel it's best to go around and tell each of us individually so we can try to plan how to get their classes covered and maybe even arrange for a replacement." Mercifully it's not that (and in the long term it's better it's not that) but right now I'm a little uncomfortable about the whole situation
(I will post later when it's resolved. It's almost 100% going to be nothing - either the student won't show, or the security detail will persuade them in such a way that everything's okay, but I really don't like this)
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