The University Record, September 24, 1997
From the Office of University Relations
The Task Force on Campus Safety and Security has forwarded its recommendations to Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Nancy Cantor and Interim Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Chandler W. Matthews. The recommendations are contained in a 10-page report.
Among the recommendations contained in the report is that overall management responsibility for campus safety and security be placed in one office, with a joint reporting relationship to the provost and the chief financial officer. The task force also has recommended that a new Campus Safety and Security Committee be established.
The task force was appointed by former Provost J. Bernard Machen and former Chief Financial Officer Farris W. Womack July 9, 1996. It was chaired by Paul C. Boylan, dean of the School of Music, and included broad campus representation. The task force was asked to review progress toward achievement of the recommendations of the 1989 Task Force on Campus Safety and Security and to assess the human climate on campus.
The task force completed its report last April, and it was forwarded to the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer at that time.
“Because it was so late in the year, and due to the transitions in our offices, it was decided to delay public release of the report until the fall term,” Cantor says. “We are pleased to finally be able to move ahead in discussing the task force’s recommendations. It also is very important that there be a period for public comment by faculty, students and staff since the issue of campus safety and security is of concern to all members of the University community.”
“Both Nancy and I appreciate the very careful and thorough review of campus safety and climate by the task force,” Matthews says. “An enormous amount of time and effort went into this review and we want to thank each and every member of the committee.”
Boylan says he is “extremely grateful to members of the task force for their thorough, conscientious participation in this review of campus safety. Extensive hearings were held throughout the campus and many members of the University community made helpful suggestions that guided the task force during our deliberations. We view these recommendations as providing a framework to assist the provost and the chief financial officer in strengthening the security climate on the campus.”
Other major recommendations contained in the report are:
ð The proposed Campus Safety and Security Committee would serve both as an executive and advisory committee for those units reporting to the recommended new position.
ð The new committee would advise on short- and long-term issues concerning campus safety and security; serve as liaison for the University community as a whole and especially with organizations that sometimes have special interests in safety and security matters; review Department of Public Safety (DPS) policies and procedures, annual crime and service data, complaints and grievances with authority to forward grievances covered by Public Act. No. 120 to the DPS Oversight Committee; and monitor policies and budgets of other units reporting to the recommended new office.
ð The establishment of a new procedure for handling complaints about the work of DPS, with a senior officer designated to investigate all complaints about DPS. Results of these investigations would be reported to the director of DPS and the recommended new office.
ð A follow-up study of the 1993 U-M Survey Regarding Alcohol and Other Drugs. Data collected as part of the follow up study would be used by the provost and chief financial officer to reconsider campus alcohol and drug policies. The Policy Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs would be reconstituted to oversee this study and propose new policies.
Copies of the report and the appendices are available for review at the Reserve Desk of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library (second floor), at the Reserve Desk in the Media Union on North Campus (second floor), and at the Taubman Medical Library (fourth floor).
A three-week public comment period begins today (Sept. 24). Comments on the report and its recommendations may be sent to security.feedback @umich.edu or the Office of the Provost, Room 3074, Fleming Administration Building 1399 (view the full text of the report [report.htm]).
