campus sexual assault survivor
Campus Safety

The Traumatic Impact of Interpersonal Crime on the Campus Sexual Assault Victim/Survivor 

The word victim is derived from the Latin word meaning sacrifice. Suffering seems to be caused by the nature of the crime as it relates to the social character of the specific victim. And it is important to note that when a person is victimized, there may be other issues already present within that person that have caused trauma. As a result of heightened attention to victims, our systems have increased the ability to identify and address the needs of victims. It may be important to note the use of terms and the need to use more than one to include as many perspectives as possible. Both the term victim and survivor are used in popular and social science literature on sexual assault. The use of the term sexual assault survivor first emerged as a way to indicate the therapeutic stage in which an individual began recovery and healing. Those who argued that such healing began with a willingness to inform others about the assault, applied the term survivor more generally.

guns on college campuses
Campus Safety

Guns on College Campuses – Not A Good Idea! 

It is hard to believe that the Columbine High School shooting was 19 years ago. The actions of the two suburban Colorado high school seniors who went on a shooting spree killing 13 people and wounding over 20 others before taking their own lives should have been a clarion call for common sense gun control. Sadly, the nation would hear the same refrain in 2012 in the bucolic Connecticut town of Newtown at the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, where the 20-year-old gunman shot and killed 20 six- and seven-year-old children and six adult staff members before killing himself.

climate survey
Campus Safety, Diversity

UW–Madison Campus Climate Survey: 5 Key Results Charted 

Officials from the University of Wisconsin-Madison released results from a campus-wide climate survey. The survey of nearly 200 questions was conducted in the fall of 2016. All undergraduate, graduate, professional and non-degree-seeking students were invited to participate. Overall, 8,652 students, or 21% of those who were eligible, completed the survey. The survey was developed by the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement to understand students’ experiences with and perceptions about campus climate and diversity, including how people of different backgrounds and identities experience life at UW–Madison. Academic Leader Today has graphed the data from five key questions concerning perceived safety and inclusion.

crisis, crisis communication, crisis communications
Campus Safety, Risk Management

Universities Prepare for Crisis Communication 

When your institution faces a crisis, be it a dorm fire or a cyberattack, it is important to be ready to handle not only the event but also the communications and public relations challenges that come after. According to a small recent survey by Dick Jones Communications, most colleges and universities feel generally prepared, but the level of preparedness varies by type of crisis.

Clemson, fire protection
Campus Safety, Risk Management

Clemson Provides Textbook Case of Performance-Based Fire Protection at New Football Practice Facility 

The Allen N. Reeves Football Complex is the first in South Carolina history to utilize a performance-based design code analysis approach (tested to meet specific goals) to fire code safety, instead of a traditional prescriptive approach (adhering strictly to written codes), according to Paul Borick, one of Clemson University’s Capital Projects, project managers for renovations and new construction.

The Administrative Role in Managing Difficult Students: A Look at the Literature
Campus Safety, Risk Management

The Administrative Role in Managing Difficult Students: A Look at the Literature 

Community college administrators are responsible for many areas of the institutions they serve. Presidents, directors of student services, those in academic support, and deans and chairs of academic units are all charged with managing institution resources, administrating mandates from legislation, and responding to internal and external constituencies. Much of the scholarly literature that discusses community college administration focuses on those elements.

Higher education and community college administrators are also faced with the tedious and delicate challenges of managing difficult students with effective policy and protocol that are also sensitive to the needs of the students while creating a safe scholarly environment. Whatever student difficulty is exhibited, the administration is tasked with creating and evolving policies that address and serve the needs of the students. Although working with difficult students is one of those many areas that administrators are assigned as a responsibility, a definitive role for administrators appears to be elusive in the scholarly literature. What the literature does reveal are some broad categories of difficulty and suggestions to administrators for how to work with students who exhibit difficulty in those areas. The following is a summary of those findings and our suggestions of the administrative roles we found to be most prevalent.