SCUP Topical Resource Pages

Crisis & Disaster Management Planning for Higher Education

An ever-growing repertoire of physical disasters (9/11, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornados) and human and reputational crises (Duke LaCrosse, Ohio U. privacy data leaks, unexpected deaths of presidents and chancellors) remind us that higher education institutions regularly face challenging, unexpected circumstances with an intensity well beyond that found in routine operations.

2009 Swine Flu Resources

As SCUP has done before—for 9/11 and Katrina—we've started up a simple (free to all) Lyris email discussion list for those interested in staying on top of the potential Swine Flu epidemic/pandemic, the preparations on campus for it, communications about it, and the effects on campus, should it come to that. We hope it doesn't.

As well, stay tuned to this SCUP Links Blog post, which is where we will maintain a temporary and changing list of links to resources and news about this specific Swine Flu crisis.

Many disaster and crisis communications plans exist in departmental silos, often well below the attention of individuals with positions of responsibility with regard to the mission and strategic vision of the institution. With the growing popular understanding of the positive roles colleges and universities play in our society, those entrusted with the stewardship of campuses need to work toward the goal of linking all such plans to the institution's strategic planning.

SCUP Resources

Lessons From the Front: The Presidential Role in Disaster Planning and Response (PDF)
This new monograph by soon-to-be-SCUP President-Elect Sal Rinella, was published by SCUP in mid-April, 2007. Thanks to underwriting from STRATUS/Heery International, your society was able to email a PDF and mail a printed copy to every college and university president in the United States. Please ensure the widest possible distribution on your own campus!

SCUP Emergency Management Planning Knowledge Community : Created in the days immediately after 9/11, this is a Lyris-based email list where SCUP shares items of interest and members have the opportunity to discuss them and also share items. Anyone may join.

Lessons From Katrina: Improving Emergency Preparedness Plans, a CD of a webcast transmitted on January 26, 2006.

How Prepared Are America's Colleges and Universities for Major Crises? —this article is published on SCUP's website with the permission of the authors, with whom SCUP is working on the crisis planning and management survey (see right-hand column). It was initially published in Change magazine in January 2006.

Other Resources

Campus Public Safety Preparedness for Catastrophic Events: Lessons Learned from Hurricanes and Explosives (PDF): This is a useful document sharing lessons learned from the perspective of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) with assistance from the FBI and Homeland Security. Includes 15 detailed mini-case studies. Free PDF.

Business Continuity Planning Model (Word document) : This draft document from NACUBO is available online, with the request that you provide comments and suggestions for improvement.

Building a Disaster-Resistant University—this FEMA document can be downloaded for free as a PDF document, or can be ordered (print) from FEMA, also at no cost.

Forthcoming SCUP Events

See SCUP's event calendar for complete listing.

Other Places To Go

The following organizations are either wholly dedicated toward certain kinds of disaster and crisis plans in higher education or are engaged in meaningful related initiatives.

CASE Public Relations
CSHEMA, Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association
EDUCAUSE Connect—a collection of business continuity resources from EDUCAUSE.
IACLEA, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators
URMIA, The University Risk Management and Insurance Association

Crisis Communications Information

Below you will find examples of crisis communication plans:

Virginia Tech
www.unirel.vt.edu/about/crisis_plan.php

Neumann College
www.neumann.edu/about/preparedness/ communicationplan.asp

Western Kentucky University
www.wku.edu/ur/crisis.html

Meredith College
www.meredith.edu/faculty-staff/updated-crisis-plan.doc (PDF)

University of Louisville
http://louisville.edu/ur/onpi/crisis_ communication/plan.html

Great Basin College
Also ideas for templates you can adapt for your own campus.
www.gbcnv.edu/administration/policies/4.19.pdf

University of Alaska - Fairbanks
www.uaf.edu/univrel/crisisplan/

University of Alberta
Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Procedure
www.conman.ualberta.ca/stellent/groups/public /@finance/documents/procedure/pp_cmp_060855.hcsp

University of Florida
Crisis communication in environmental education programs
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/WC035

University of Minnesota
Communicating during a crisis - tips
www1.umn.edu/prepared/pdf/crisis_manual.pdf

Central Michigan University
www.hrs.cmich.edu/avp/crisis-response.htm

Montana State University
Media Policy Guidelines
www2.montana.edu/policy/media_policy/

Other sites of interest:

Tennesse Tech University
Proactive message from their president on their campus crisis planning
www.tntech.edu/campus_tragedy.html

Technorati
Blogs about crisis communications
http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/crisis+communications

Texas A&M - Integrative Center for Homeland Security
Many sample university emergency plans
http://homelandsecurity.tamu.edu/safe- schools/sample-university-emergency-plans