Just over a month following the arrest of first-year rhetoriclecturer Annie Laurie Cooper, her former students have adjusted toa new curriculum and new teachers.

The long-time SMU lecturer is currently on paid administrativeleave, a decision that was made with Dean Jasper Neel and the LegalAffairs office after she was charged with aggravated assault with adeadly weapon.

Cooper was arrested after an incident in which she shot herfiancée Steven Scott.

“This is a standard procedure for risk assessment,”English department chair Dennis Foster said. “She is a memberof the faculty and she continues to be a member.”

Cooper’s classes have been taken over by two professors,Jaqueline Bradley and Vickie Tungate, who are covering the threerhetoric sections as well as Cooper’s duties in the writingcenter.

Students in Cooper’s rhetoric classes said they wereinformed of the incident involving their teacher in an e-mailbefore their current professors gave them a follow-up.

“[We] were extremely shocked,” first-year studentPavielle Chviss said.

First-year Chris Jensen believes that Cooper was a good teacher,but the students have adjusted to their new professors and newcurriculum. Their grades were carried over.

“We didn’t really have a curriculum, [now] it isdefinitely different,” Chviss said.

In the classroom, students described Cooper as capable, butnumerous police reports from the past several years suggestCooper’s personal life was troubled.

She has been involved in several domestic disputes dating backto 2000.

The English department has not yet made a decision as to whetherCooper will return next semester.

“She is in an unusual category as a tenured lecturer.There are only a few,” said Foster. “She has theprotection of tenure.”

Lecturers such as Cooper are usually on one to three yearcontracts, but Cooper, who has been with SMU since 1982, wasawarded tenure prior to the university’s currentpolicies.

Foster describes the process of becoming tenured as an”elaborate procedure.”

“Only teachers who show high quality in publishing andteaching can receive tenure. For most people it is a lifetimecontract, unless circumstances suggest a teacher is no longer doinghis or her job,” Foster said. “[Cooper] is still amember of the department so, we expect her at the appropriate timein her classroom”

Cooper was unavailable for comment as of press time.