An analysis of eleven state task force reports prompted by the tragic nature of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 revealed that all shared a primary theme: no "single best way" to protect American college and university campuses yet exists. These documents, individually and collectively, make it clear that contemporary complex learning environments can only be protected by first assessing and understanding their uniqueness. These unique characteristics, found on each campus, demand dynamic protective solutions administered by trained professionals using industry standards and best practices to provide reasonable levels of protection. U.S. campuses share many characteristics, but they also differ in so many substantial ways that the differences cannot be ignored. Those differences, in fact, constitute the major challenge facing campus protective services today. While each state acknowledged campus "diversity" as a key concept in terms of security planning and effectiveness, these historic documents also contended that adequate safety and security depends upon more than just finance and budgeting. Effective protection can only be achieved at a site when protective decisions are also based on other critical factors including culture, population, geography and mission. These are the "two" primary common conclusions noted in all of the analyzed task force reports: (1) the importance of campus diversity; and (2) the need for multifaceted decision-making as it relates to protective services. This article presents a number of other "common observations" that can be found in these publications.