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December 14, 2004

Task Force on UNC Campus Safety Releases Final Report

CHAPEL HILL – A task force created by UNC President Molly Corbett Broad following the murders last spring of two students attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has submitted its findings and recommendations for improving safety across the 16-campus University. While acknowledging that University students and employees cannot be completely insulated from the violence that is increasingly prevalent in society, the University-wide Task Force on the Safety of the Campus Community offered a number of prudent suggestions for strengthening the admissions screening process and improving overall campus safety.

Data examined by the task force confirmed that UNC campuses already offer relatively safe environments, with a crime rate that is only one-sixth of the statewide crime rate. Over the past three years, more than 250,000 individuals have been enrolled as students on UNC campuses, yet only 21 students who committed a violent crime on campus during that time had a prior criminal record. Only 13 of these students did not disclose their prior criminal background when asked on their application for admission.

"The overwhelming majority of UNC students will never be involved with nor affected by a violent crime while enrolled," said Bobby Kanoy, UNC senior associate vice president for academic and student affairs and task force chairman. "However, we are determined to make sure we are doing everything reasonably within our power to ensure the safety of all our students while maintaining the University’s historic commitment to access and openness. That was the purpose of this task force."

Early in its deliberations, the 17-member task force reached consensus on the need to address safety issues in two distinct safety areas. An admissions subcommittee chaired by Stephen Farmer, director of admissions at UNC-Chapel Hill, focused on the pre-enrollment process of identifying students who might pose a potential danger to the campus community. A campus environment subcommittee chaired by Garrie Moore, vice chancellor for student affairs at East Carolina University, studied the safety of the overall campus environment. Even though the number of UNC students who falsify their admission information and go on to commit a crime on campus was found to be extremely low, key recommendations offered to President Broad by the task force include:

• Standardize questions on all UNC admissions applications related to student integrity and behavior.
• Develop reasonable and cost-effective methods to verify completeness and accuracy of applicant information. Among others, such methods would include verifying previous attendance at other education institutions, verifying student disciplinary records, and developing a mechanism through which campuses could request, on a case-by-case basis, criminal background checks of applicants, admitted students, and/or enrolled students.
• Train campus staff in identifying and responding appropriately to applicants who may pose a threat to the safety of the campus community if admitted.
• Maintain a Campus Safety Committee on each campus.
• Conduct campus threat assessments, inventories of current safety practices and resources, and safety climate surveys on each campus.
• Provide faculty with educational programs to alert them to indicators in student behavior that can warn of potential danger.
• Prevent students with pending non-academic charges at a campus from formally withdrawing from the University until the judicial process has been completed and recorded.

The task force agreed that providing a secure and safe university community requires an ongoing partnership involving the campus and surrounding communities, as well as the public schools and other institutions of higher education. The impact of task force recommendations and their implementation will be assessed periodically by both the campuses and the UNC Office of the President.

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Read a copy of the full task force report.  (Adobe Acrobat is required)