The campus safety imperative: a qualitative study of a higher education system's initiatives to respond to violence on campus

Date

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Crisis management is a critical issue facing higher education. Higher education leaders and campus safety advocates agree that the Virginia Tech massacre changed perceptions and approaches to campus safety at colleges and universities nationally. In the University of North Carolina System, it was the two murders of University of North Carolina at Wilmington students that occurred three years prior to Virginia Tech caused the UNC System to take significant steps toward making all of its campuses safer. This single-case study examined the University of North Carolina (UNC) System’s initiatives to respond to violence on campus through the work of the campus safety forces that were formed in 2004, 2007 and 2013. The study assessed the impact that changes made to crisis management policies and practices recommended by the Task Force had on campus safety and crisis leadership. The researcher collected and analyzed documents and media reports related to the task forces’ work. In addition, interview responses from eight task force members who were experienced higher education administrators were transcribed and analyzed. Triangulation of these data was used to assure the validity of this research study. Results of this case study research show that UNC’s continuous focus on campus safety has led to changes in policy and practice that have made its campuses better prepared for and improved their ability to respond to crises. The findings also show that Presidential/CEO leadership was critical to the success of UNC’s multi-disciplinary approach to making its campuses safer.

Description

Keywords

Citation

DOI