The research in this dissertation was conducted to measure the accessibility, presentation, and format of active shooter protocol for college faculty and staff at institutions of higher education in the state of New Jersey. The study further explores the need for availability of active shooter policy given the unfortunate growing problem of active…

Sexual violence (SV) is a global public health crisis of pandemic proportions. Sexual harassment (SH) and violence are pervasive on college campuses, negatively impacting students, faculty, and staff. To address this, U.S. universities are required by federal law to implement EBP programs to foster awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and…

The prevalence of sexual violence victimization on college campuses has varied by gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity (Conley et al., 2017). Research has shown that sexual minorities have higher incidences of campus sexual violence compared to heterosexual students (Coulter et al., 2017). Black women reported higher incidences of campus…

Sexual violence is one of the most challenging campus health and safety concerns faced by institutions of higher education. Over the past nine years, federal mandates and guidance on how institutions prevent and respond to sexual violence has continuously evolved. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2013 requires institutions to…

This study investigated the perceptions and attitudes students have regarding their decision to participate or not as witnesses in a southwest United States private university gender-based violence adjudication process. The study also investigated whether there was a relationship between students' decisions to participate and their gender, age,…

The 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech is one part of a decades-long increase in the frequency of gun violence on U.S. college and university campuses (Drysdale, Modzeleski, & Simons, 2010; Ferraro, 2015). The events at Virginia Tech also served as a catalyst for the spread of so-called "campus-carry" laws, or acts of state policy…

Gender based violence is experienced at higher rates on college campuses than in other communities. One in five women experience acquaintance rape during their academic career and less than 5% of college women who have experienced sexual assault report their victimization (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). Recent federal guidance is meant to…

This dissertation evaluated campus violence threat assessment policy and procedure implementation at the community college level of higher education. The importance of this topic was to provide a manageable and collaborative initiative for leadership at institutions of higher learning to identify, develop, implement, and evaluate a policy that can…

The purpose of this study was to determine students' perceptions of on campus safety and their awareness of administrative policies regarding safety. Specifically, this study assessed students' perceptions of safety when considering sexual assault, assault, robbery, and burglary. Following a fatal shooting that occurred on campus in the Fall…

Gun violence on college campuses has gained the attention of campus leaders, leading to an active shooter policy and procedure development and implementation. There was little awareness within the campus leadership of a college in the Southeast United States on the college's active shooter policy and procedures. Guided by Coomb's crisis management…

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…

The purpose of this study was to discover the types of conduct processes that are being utilized when fraternities and sororities violate alcohol, hazing, and other policies at four-year universities. Many negative issues have been tied to Greek letter organizations and have become a national concern, such as hazing, alcohol consumption, and other…

This qualitative phenomenological study employed narrative inquiry to describe the decision-making processes that Texas school districts followed in enacting firearms policies that allow school employees to carry concealed weapons on district property. Exploration of the lived experiences of eight Texas superintendents in such schools contributed…

Our nation's schools are faced with numerous critical challenges and problems; meeting federal and state mandates, state standards, elevating academic achievement, increasing parental involvement, and violence in the schools (Gould, 2011; Kowalski & Cangemi, 2011; Simpson, LaCava, & Graner, 2004). Violence in many U.S. schools continues to…

This study incorporated a multiple-methods design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative portion investigated several annual reports distributed by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) to explore the impact of school uniform policies on incidents of crime and violence and occurrences of…