Wade Committee Issues Report, Recommends Changes
By Bill Konigsberg

The university committee that investigated how ASU staff and faculty responded to issues involving former ASU football player Loren Wade (see “A Closer Look,” ASU Magazine, Summer 2005) found that no ASU faculty or staff member had reasonable cause to suspect that Loren Wade might be capable of shooting another person.

Wade was arrested following the shooting death of Brandon Falkner, another former ASU football player, on March 26, 2005, outside a nightclub in Scottsdale. ASU President Michael Crow impaneled a committee to investigate how the university had responded to issues and allegations concerning Wade.

The committee found no evidence that any university or Arizona Board of Regents policies or procedures had been violated, but reported that some policies need to be clarified to better guide university employees about how to handle allegations of violent student behavior off-campus.

The committee also found that students are reluctant to report violations to university authorities of the Student and Student-Athlete Codes of Conduct regulations, including those involving weapons possession.

The committee made a number of recommendations, including:
• That the Arizona Board of Regents’ Student Code of Conduct be revised to cover off-campus conduct by students involving weapons, illegal drugs, or violence or potential violence;
• Changes to ASU policies and procedures that will assist the university in identifying and addressing concerns related to violence by students;
• Establishing a hotline to ASU’s police department for anonymous reporting of violent threats and behavior;
• That ASU’s chief of police investigate the possibility of receiving notification from municipal police departments when ASU students are being investigated or charged with criminal conduct;
• Establishing a central university database for reporting and tracking issues involving violence; and
• Implementing mandatory reporting by faculty and staff of all acts or threats of violence and disruptive behavior.

Lastly, the committee recommended a series of steps be taken to better integrate Intercollegiate Athletics with the rest of university and provide guidance, training and assistance to coaches and staff in identifying and responding to student behavioral and emotional problems.

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