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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, Legal, Risk Management

  Business Insurance reported that Penn State University’s expenses in response to the alleged child abuse by former assistant football coach Gerald Sandusky are mounting.  A Penn State statement said they are paying nearly $2.5 million for the services of two public relations firms. The communication firms aim to work with Penn State’s public information officers to provide broad and transparent communications to key stakeholders and support the university through upcoming litigation, according to the statement. “Retaining these communications firms puts us more firmly on the path toward accountability, openness and preserving our reputation as one of the world’s leading research universities,” Penn State PresidentRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Emergency Management, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Did you see the recent report from the Center for American Progress?  The report estimates that the Virginia Tech tragedy cost the university and taxpayers $ 48.2 million.  And this cost does not include the “costs” associated with the loss of lives and lives that were changed forever. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I hope all school and university administrators are paying close attention to this wisdom and this new report. According to the report, the university was responsible for most of the costs – $ 38.77 million – and the state of Virginia paid around $ 8.87Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Already in 2011, tragedies in Tucson and Omaha have reminded each of us about the consequences of missed opportunities involving red flags and warning signs.  Lives were lost and lives will be changed forever because of these and many other tragic incidents. We are now learning numerous red flags and warning signs existed involving the gunman in each tragedy, which has many people asking why these two tragedies were not prevented and how can we prevent future incidents like these from occurring? Some people are suggesting new gun control laws in Arizona or new laws that do not allow guns within 1000 feet ofRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Emergency Management

  Just recently, I had the honor of presenting at the EduComm 2010 conference in Las Vegas. The title of my presentation was ‘Connecting the Dots to Improve Campus Safety’ and was selected as a featured presentation. Presenting at conferences is definitely one of my favorite things to do. I get to share ideas, successes and lessons learned with other people who are coming from many different locations and I have the unique opportunity to ask questions and learn what challenges other people face. During my presentation I asked the following questions:   How many of your organizations have a Crisis Management Plan? (Everyone raisedRead More →