This is a follow-up report of what has transpired since the unfortunate assault on Dr. Burrill on Monday morning.

The Burrills have left for a previously-scheduled appointment out of the country. He called University Relations before he left, and the conversation included his praise and gratitude for the care and support he and his family have received from the University family during this difficult week.

Public Safety learned yesterday afternoon (Thursday) that Adelin Baciu was arraigned Wednesday, at the hospital, on charges of assault with attempt to murder and assaulting a police officer. There is a $250,000 cash bond, and he is scheduled to appear in court on April 27.

The concrete details released in the initial University statement (www.andrews.edu/news/) have not changed--Adelin has remained in police custody and does not pose a threat to the safety of our campus. Out of Christian compassion for Adelin and his family, University Relations, in consultation with our legal counsel, Public Safety and Student Life, has not (and will not) report details of this case which include sensitive issues of alleged actions, immigration and mental health. The University will, of course, fully cooperate with the legal proceedings. Thank you for your cooperation in sending all media inquiries to University Relations, and for using good judgment and common courtesy in conversations on-campus and off-campus.

As Dr. Andreasen mentioned in his Wednesday e-mail to campus in response to the assault on our campus and the horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech, there was a joint meeting of the Public Safety Committee and the Risk Management Committee on Thursday morning (for a list of members on these committees go to http://commdb.andrews.edu/committees.pdf). Dr. Andreasen served as chair. The committees reviewed the assault incident response actions of Public Safety, University Relations, Student Life, and the Seminary. The committees also received a review of our campus Emergency Preparedness Drills and Plans.

Much of the meeting was spent in discussion of the following points:

1. Review of disaster plans, including lockdown procedures

2. Emergency notification and communication procedures

3. Mental health intervention protocols.

4. A Christian response to violent behavior.

At this joint meeting, it was reported that Seminary faculty and staff would participate in a Safety Assurance meeting on Thursday evening, and Heather Knight will be working with the deans and department directors to determine needs and plans for Safety Assurance meetings with the rest of the campus in the coming weeks.

Administration will also be making sub-committee assignments to the joint committee, including completion timeline expectations for the four areas mentioned above. Information will be distributed about how faculty, staff and students can have input on these important issues.

The President would like to assure faculty, staff and students that we do have clearly defined procedures and processes and trained, responsible individuals tasked to carry out those procedures in case of emergency. There is an operating Emergency Operations Center protocol in place. But administration sees the shocking events of this past week as a wake-up call and is already working to review, revise and renew those processes, reflecting responsible care and concern for the precious human resources on our campus.

If you wish to send a card of concern to the Burrills, the Baciu family, or the Virginia Tech campus, cards are available at the office of Student Life through Monday, and their staff will provide postage and delivery.

Please do not hesitate to contact any of our University counselors (471-3470), pastors or chaplains (471-6241) if you need help and support processing the impact of the events of this week. Please continue to pray for those on our campus and the campus of Virginia Tech.