ERIC Number: EJ780042
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Oct-19
Pages: 1
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-5982
EISSN: N/A
Crisis-Management Plans Are Untested, Survey Says
June, Audrey Williams
Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n8 pA25 Oct 2007
Newly released survey results reveal that many colleges are focusing more than ever on preparing for a crisis since the massacre at Virginia Tech, but that they may not be well equipped to handle one. The online survey was conducted by SimpsonScarborough, a consulting firm that focuses on colleges and universities. It invited 546 people who are members of the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education to take the survey, and 17 percent of them responded. Most of the respondents were presidential assistants and chiefs of staff. Nearly 100 percent of the respondents said their institutions had written crisis plans, and most had crisis-management teams. But when it came to what those plans covered and how often they were tested, the findings suggest that many colleges have room for improvement. The crisis plans of respondents overwhelmingly covered how to deal with weather emergencies, fire, or bomb threats--all longtime elements of crisis-response plans for colleges and universities. Furthermore, more than half of the survey's respondents, 57 percent, said their plans had been tested. But only about one-fourth of those who had tested their crisis plans had done so twice or more in a year. Meanwhile, 71 percent of respondents said the crisis teams at their institutions did not meet on a regular basis.
Descriptors: Crisis Intervention, Crisis Management, Surveys, Higher Education, Educational Administration, Emergency Programs
Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A