The view that colleges are generally safe has been challenged by threats of violence on campuses across the country, causing fear among stakeholders. Community college faculty are not immune to crime-related fear on campus; however, the research has largely ignored this population. This research serves to fill that gap. The purpose of this…

Compared to non-HBCU institutions, studies associated with student perceptions of campus crimes in HBCU settings are limited. Utilizing survey data from two HBCUs, nearly 200 students express their opinions in association with victimization, offender characteristics, and campus safety strategies. Descriptive results indicate high levels of support…

Objective: This study investigates the association between histories of childhood victimization and perceived consequences of college hazing. Participants: First-year college students at four US universities (N = 120). Method: Participants completed Web-based surveys asking about childhood victimization (eg, child maltreatment), peer…

The focus of classroom incivility research thus far has been at the individual discipline and large public or specialty institution level, which limits the generalizability of findings. Surveying undergraduates (N = 150) at different types of schools (2-year public, 4-year public and 4-year private) and majors on their perceptions of incivility in…

Campus violence prevention often includes proactively reducing crime through noticing and resolving concerning situations. Within these efforts, interventions aimed at enhancing reporting have been considered necessary. The current study explored several reporting influences on college students' responses to hypothetical and actual campus safety…

This case details the challenges faced by various members of a 4-year university regarding Kathryn, a non-traditional transfer student and military veteran who recently returned from a traumatic deployment in Afghanistan. Precisely, this study identifies ambiguities pertaining to (a) threat assessment, (b) university weapons policies, (c) transfer…

The efficacy of inoculation theory has been confirmed by decades of empirical research, yet optimizing its effectiveness remains a vibrant line of investigation. The present research turns to psychological reactance theory for a means of enhancing the core mechanisms of inoculation--threat and refutational preemption. Findings from a multisite…

Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich 2006;…

The most high-profile story of the year touching the higher education community was undisputedly the killings at Virginia Tech in April when student Seung-Hui Cho opened fire, leaving 33 people dead, including himself. To date, it is the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. However, in September, the Delaware State University (DSU) community…

This study extended the findings of Cleveland, Koss, and Lyon's (1999) research on rape tactics to a sample of college men by examining the use and acceptance of sexually aggressive tactics. Participants included 297 male undergraduate students who filled out instruments assessing for a history of sexual aggression and other personality…