review article ASSESSING SAFETY

review article ASSESSING SAFETY

Student behavior inside and outside of the classroom is an issue
that impacts faculty, students, student affairs personnel, and the
entire college community. Any type of violence or disrespectful
behavior can dismpt the learning process. Due to recent violent
events on college campuses, an assessment of campus safety was
conducted. About 150 faculty and staff and 450 students completed
a survey designed to measure beliefs and attitudes, daily
behaviors, personal safety precautions, and cases of victimization.
Survey results provided insight into the college
community’s perceptions of campus safety, and aided in the formation
of strategies used to reduce or eliminate violence and
incivility in the college environment. Findings also informed
student affairs administrators of further actions needed to resolve
conflict on campus, such as the development of policy and programs.
The college campus atmosphere is often
viewed as a place of academic sanctuary
where opinions and feelings are openly
expressed between faculty and students.
For these students, the college years are a
time of transition between the formal leaming
that takes place in childhood and
adolescence and the move toward adulthood
and the formal workplace. This
transitional period is one that fosters independent
and critical thinking, and allows
students to speak out and test limits and
boundaries. Subsequently, this time in
young adulthood is also when students are
more apt to challenge protocols and traditions
in the college classroom. This picture
of academic freedom and discourse has
changed sharply over the years, when one
closely examines pattems of behavior that
exist both inside and outside of the college
classroom.
This transitional period, during which
young college students test their limits, has
been more recently marked by acts of violence.
Acts of violence, such as campus
shootings and rapes, have caused college
campuses to examine and implement safety
plans for students and employees. Such
plans often take resources away from academic
needs for allocation toward the
general security of the campus (Carr, 2005;
Fox, 2008). Many would argue that safety
is an expense to colleges that is
worthwhile. Yet, in reality, resources are
being diverted to enhance security on campuses
with little increase in funding for
these measures (Rasmussen & Johnson,
2008).
Despite efforts to improve on preparedness
for disasters following the
terrorist attacks in New York City, the hurricane
in New Orleans, and flooding in the
Midwest, the scope of violence that
occurred at the Virginia Tech campus
quickly motivated colleges to examine
standards and practices in the event that a
simdlar incident would occur (Rasmussen
& Johnson, 2008). Concerns about the
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684 / College Student Journa

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ASSESSING SAFETY

ASSESSING SAFETY