The University of Colorado at Boulder will immediately begin doing criminal background checks on all employees, including temporary hires, as a result of the stabbing on campus this week, a CU official told parents in an e-mail.

CU did not do a background check on Kenton Astin, 39, before hiring him as a cashier at the Alferd Packer Grill from October 2006 until April.

On Monday, he slit the throat of a freshman at the student center and stabbed himself before he was subdued with a Taser shot. He is in fair condition at Boulder Community Hospital under armed guard.

CU did not know when Astin was hired that he had been acquitted by reason of insanity in a similar stabbing of a stranger in a Salvation Army store in Longmont in 2001.

Astin was sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute and was released to a halfway house in Boulder in October 2005, even though he was deemed a "moderate risk to violently reoffend" at the time.

Michael Knorps, the freshman who was attacked, was released from the hospital.

CU has increased campus security patrols this week, according to the Tuesday e-mail from George "Barney" Ballinger, director of the Office of Public Relations.

CU will review its policies across the board on background checks for existing employees, Ballinger said. He said CU also will examine its relationships with agencies such as the Chinook Clubhouse, the agency that referred Astin for his cashier job. No new hires through such agencies will be made until that review is complete.

CU put five food service and maintenance workers on leave with pay Tuesday because they have a history of mental illness. The university wants to review their records as a part of the tightening of security checks.

Ballinger told parents in his e-mail that Astin had no performance or behavior problems during his work as a cashier.

Astin's "temporary employment was a part of his return to being a productive member of the community. His employment here was uneventful," Ballinger wrote.

"We have no reason to believe that his prior employment was related in any way to (Monday's) attack."

Ballinger described Chinook as "a program dedicated to enhancing the recovery of men and women with mental illnesses. It provides opportunities for members to live, work, learn, and socialize while contributing their talents in a community of mutual support."

He said CU has worked with the agency, which is not affiliated with CU, for 17 years with no incidents.

Nevertheless, Ballinger said, the stabbing "compelled us to take several actions necessary to ensure a safe and secure campus for all our faculty, staff, students, visitors and the community at large."

The background checks and reviews took effect immediately, Ballinger said.

Ballinger said CU has made counseling services available to faculty, staff and students through the Office of Victim Assistance, in Counseling and Psychological Services and through the Center for Multicultural Affairs. All three offices are on the first and second floors of the Willard Administrative Center just northeast of Regent Hall.