[Poscgrad] Watkins Hall safety incident

Wed Feb 19 15:59:16 PST 2025

Hi everyone,

Following up on this email from earlier today — Catherine Wells shared some additional resources that can be helpful to de-escalate situations, and also to help us remember that the police are not always the best response in a crisis. Here are her reminders:

1) If someone appears to be suicidal (identifies wanting to die or having a plan when asked) you can call the 988 hotline https://988lifeline.org/

2)  For those who are not armed, but need help call (951) 686-HELP. This is the Crisis Support System of Care through the Riverside University Health System. It does not involve the police. https://ruhealth.org/behavioral-health/crisis-support-system-care

Thanks!
Kevin

Kevin M. Esterling (he/him)
Chair of Political Science and Professor of Public Policy
Director, Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy  (TeCD-Lab<https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/>)
UC Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-5591
https://profiles.ucr.edu/kevin.esterling

________________________________
From: poscfaculty <poscfaculty-bounces at lists.ucr.edu> on behalf of Kevin M Esterling via poscfaculty <poscfaculty at lists.ucr.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2025 6:40 AM
To: poscfaculty at lists.ucr.edu <poscfaculty at lists.ucr.edu>; poscgrad at lists.ucr.edu <poscgrad at lists.ucr.edu>
Subject: [Poscfaculty] Fw: Watkins Hall safety incident

Hi everyone,

See the note below from Jennifer Syvertsen, the chair of Anthro. Incidents like this can happen and her advice in her email is good to remember. Also, if you are interested, there is a mobile app called UCR SAFE that you can choose to install on your phone that provides a number of safety features.

Best,
Kevin

Kevin M. Esterling (he/him)
Chair of Political Science and Professor of Public Policy
Director, Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy  (TeCD-Lab<https://tecd-lab.ucr.edu/>)
UC Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-5591
https://profiles.ucr.edu/kevin.esterling

________________________________
From: Jennifer Syvertsen <jsyverts at ucr.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2025 6:50 PM
To: Kevin M Esterling <kevin.esterling at ucr.edu>; Robert Clark <roclark at ucr.edu>; Marcelina R Ryneal <marcelina.ryneal at ucr.edu>
Subject: Fwd: Watkins Hall safety incident

Hi all:
FYI, the message I just sent to anthro after an incident in Watkins today.
Let me know if you'd like to chat.
Take care,
Jennifer

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jennifer Syvertsen <jsyverts at ucr.edu<mailto:jsyverts at ucr.edu>>
Date: Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Subject: Watkins Hall safety incident
To: Anthro Faculty (anthfac at lists.ucr.edu<mailto:anthfac at lists.ucr.edu>) <anthfac at lists.ucr.edu<mailto:anthfac at lists.ucr.edu>>, Grad Students <anthgrad at lists.ucr.edu<mailto:anthgrad at lists.ucr.edu>>, Kimberly A Linsley <kimberly.linsley at ucr.edu<mailto:kimberly.linsley at ucr.edu>>, Becky L Campbell <becky.campbell at ucr.edu<mailto:becky.campbell at ucr.edu>>, Mary Margerette J Rebudal <mary.rebudal at ucr.edu<mailto:mary.rebudal at ucr.edu>>, Tiara Caldwell <tiara.pleas at ucr.edu<mailto:tiara.pleas at ucr.edu>>, Tanya Wine <tanya.wine at ucr.edu<mailto:tanya.wine at ucr.edu>>, Isabelle Placentia <iplac002 at ucr.edu<mailto:iplac002 at ucr.edu>>, Phuoc Duong <pduon003 at ucr.edu<mailto:pduon003 at ucr.edu>>, Stephen James <sjame004 at ucr.edu<mailto:sjame004 at ucr.edu>>, Christian Munoz <christian.munoz at email.ucr.edu<mailto:christian.munoz at email.ucr.edu>>, Kiara Gaytan <kiara.gaytan at ucr.edu<mailto:kiara.gaytan at ucr.edu>>
Cc: Jennifer Syvertsen <jsyverts at ucr.edu<mailto:jsyverts at ucr.edu>>

Dear all:

I wanted to let everyone know that we had an incident in Watkins Hall today in which someone from the community communicated in a loud and volatile manner that became threatening to people's safety. This person was arrested and given a warning not to return to campus. I wanted to open a line of communication to make everyone aware this happened so that we can all feel safe in our workspace and have transparency.

If you are ever in a situation in which you do not feel safe, you may call campus police (951-827-5222 or 911). It is also acceptable to remove yourself from the situation by closing and locking your office door and bringing others into that safe space with you while the situation is resolved. The anth/soc main office is also always a safe space where you can go. You are always welcome in my office as well. You may try to deescalate the situation, but you are not obligated to do so and it may not work in all cases. There are also efforts to find other solutions on campus, like safety training and building rapid response networks that we can further discuss as we think more broadly about navigating the political climate in which we're living and other kinds of situations that may arise.

Ultimately, it is important that we keep in communication and do our best to remain vigilant and take care of each other. Thank you to everyone who stepped in today, our community is strong and supportive.

Please reach out if you have additional questions and take good care.

In peace,
Jennifer

--
Jennifer Syvertsen, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Riverside
900 University Ave, 1320B Watkins Hall
Riverside, CA 92521
Email: jsyverts at ucr.edu<mailto:jsyverts at ucr.edu>
Book an appointment here<https://calendly.com/office-hours-fall24/office-hours-winter-2025>

--
Jennifer Syvertsen, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Riverside
900 University Ave, 1320B Watkins Hall
Riverside, CA 92521
Email: jsyverts at ucr.edu<mailto:jsyverts at ucr.edu>
Book an appointment here<https://calendly.com/office-hours-fall24/office-hours-winter-2025>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/poscgrad/attachments/20250219/5b7fd3d8/attachment-0001.htm>