Illinois State University is committed to providing a secure and welcoming campus environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. As such, we encourage all members of our University community to report to the Redbird Care Team (RCT) student behavior that is significantly out of character, causes alarm, is unhealthy, and/or is potentially dangerous.

The RCT is a working group of skilled and committed Illinois State University professionals who seek to identify, and when deemed necessary, recommend an appropriate response to ISU students who display unhealthy or dangerous behaviors.  The goal of the RCT is to intervene and assist students before a regular pattern of behavior develops and the level of concern about behaviors exhibited reaches crisis level. In order to do this work effectively, the campus community needs to report such behaviors to the RCT.

It is critical to report your observations early.

Delaying your report can negatively impact campus safety and hinder providing the distressed student with appropriate support services. Regardless of how minimal a student’s behavior seems, your observations may inform the broader picture as similar reports are submitted from other areas at ISU.

Examples of appropriate referrals to RCT include:

• Serious change in the quality of the student's work
• Excessive absences from class
• Exaggerated and inappropriate emotional responses
• Unusual or changed patterns of interactions
• Disruptive behavior
• Depressed behavior such as lack of energy, deterioration in personal appearance

Indicators that reflect a more serious problem and require an immediate outreach:

• Inability to communicate clearly due to garbled speech or disconnected thoughts
• Loss of touch with reality (e.g., individuals report hearing or seeing things that do not exist or express beliefs that conflict with reality)
• Talking about committing suicide (e.g., “I can’t go on...there’s no reason to continue”)
• Threatening to seriously harm or even kill someone

Imminent threats and emergencies should be immediately reported to 911 and/or the Illinois State University Police Department at (309) 438-8631.

When in doubt, report!

Reporting Privacy and Legal Considerations

The Redbird Care Team will take reasonable steps to maintain the privacy of those who make a referral, if requested. However, confidentially cannot be guaranteed. For example, due to the nature of the report, it is sometimes the case that the reporting party is obvious to the student of concern. Furthermore, there are several legal considerations that impact the privacy and confidentiality of reports filed.

• Reports that indicate an immediate danger to any person will need to be reported to the appropriate authority to intercede (e.g. University Police).
• Reports that reference potential crimes will need to be reported to University Police.
• Reports that reference any type of sexual or relationship violence (e.g. sexual assault, stalking, domestic violence) be reported to University Police and the Office of Equal Opportunity, Ethics, and Access (OEOEA).

Also, student privacy is protected as appropriate for the circumstances and in compliance with federal and state law.

RCT Membership

The RCT meets on a weekly basis throughout the academic school year and on an as needed basis during the summer months. This group is chaired by the Dean of Students and has representation from the following departments:

• Dean of Students Office
• Student Counseling Services
• Student Health Services
• University College
• University Housing Services
• University Police
• Office of General Counsel

Other professionals are asked to join the group on an as needed basis.