Staying out of Court: Leadership Factors for Consideration as Higher Education Administrators
Higher education leaders have a tremendous responsibility as it relates to legal concerns. This guidebook is intended to assist leaders in higher education by providing factors for which administrators serving in a student affairs or higher education leadership role should consider. This guidebook is designed to offer five recommendations for best practices. The guidebook will also review the 2007 rape and murder of a Eastern Michigan University student in demonstrating how leaders at this institution failed to follow these five factors of best practice and thus providing examples of negligence or tort liability, which has best been defined as civil wrong, other than a breach of contract, for which the court will allow a remedy (Kaplan Lee, 2007) (Barr Associates, 1993) inform leaders, "The best defense against tort liability is to know legal duties and fulfill them." (p. 281) Readers will learn how best to apply the following factors in student affairs and/or higher educational leadership: 1. Avoid unethical behavior 2. Hire good people 3. Establish and follow procedures 4. Be current on legal issues affecting higher education 5. Develop positive leadership skills STAYING OUT OF COURT: FACTORS IN LEADERSHIP 3 Introduction In light of recent tragedies having occurred at colleges and universities across the United States and globally, implementation of college policies designed to ensure student safety have quickly evolved into a cultural expectation for students and parents. In a recent dissertation, a researcher received comments from participants, which indicated how campus safety would "automatically be provided when they arrived on campus at their particular college" (Nolen Allen, 2007) In many instances, today's traditional age college students may view the collegiate climate as one that is sterile from negative consequences. This could not be further from the truth. As many professionals believe, a college or university is a microcosm of our society. In short, bad things happen to good people. In an effort to inform public of the possible negative aspects that may be a part of colleges and universities, the federal government passed legislation in 1990. The Clery Act, named after Jeanne Clery, a woman raped and murdered in her residence hall, requires that all universities and colleges who receive Title IV federal student financial assistance as report crime statistics to avail informative decision making of prospective students and in cases make the campus community aware of such crimes. According to the Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting (2005) in order for a postsecondary institution to be viewed as in compliance with this act, the institution will meet several obligations falling under three main categories: policy disclosure; records collection and retention and information dissemination. When initially passed, the Clery Act included the following violent crimes: criminal homicide; sex offenses, forcible and non forcible; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; motor vehicle theft; arson; arrests or persons referred for campus disciplinary action liquor law violations, drug related STAYING OUT OF COURT: FACTORS IN LEADERSHIP 4 violations and illegal weapons possession (Kaplin Lee, 2007) As per legislation in July of 2010, the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) added obligations to college and university administrators to include: missing person procedures and notification; fire safety procedures and reporting; emergency notification warning procedures; hate crime additions of larceny, vandalism/damage/destruction of property, intimidation, simple assault (Federal Reserve, October 29, 2009) This statute was passed in an effort to better educate students and parents in regards to the violent crimes at colleges and universities so that informed decisions might be made in relation to the safety of the student. Jeanne Clery's parents argued through their own civil court pursuit that had they known about the violent crimes which had occurred on campus at Lehigh University, they may have made a different decision about having Jeanne attend that particular university and perhaps may have spared Ms. Clery's life. Legislators found that it appeared that colleges and universities were seemingly hiding the violent crimes that occurred on some campuses in order to improve their image in order to avoid decreased enrollment. This sentiment was a consideration in Dr. Nolen Allen's dissertation concerning how students select universities and colleges as he observed, "Participants also talked about the need for colleges and universities to accurately portray themselves to prospective students" (Nolen Allen, 2007) The Rape and Murder of Laura Dickinson On December 15, 2006, Eastern Michigan student Laura Dickinson was found in her residence hall room. Custodial staff for the building found Ms. Dickinson's body after several students had expressed concern of a smell emanating from Ms. Dickinson's STAYING OUT OF COURT: FACTORS IN LEADERSHIP 5 room. Upon investigation Eastern Michigan officials released a statement indicating that Ms. Dickinson's death was attributed to asphyxiation and specifically notified the university community, "there was no evidence of foul play." The parents were also notified of their daughter's death having occurred as of natural causes. In February of 2007, a student by the name of Orange Taylor III was arrested as a suspect in the rape and murder of Laura Dickinson. In reviewing a timeline of the event as reported electronically by the Saginaw News staff, the county examiner for the case suggested that upon reviewing the area where the death occurred, the cause of death seemed to be of a suspicious nature. Through two different independent investigations, Eastern Michigan University leaders including the President of the University, the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Director of Public Safety were found to have not fulfilled their obligations as leaders of the university and were consequently terminated from their respective positions. In the wake of these investigations, another university tragedy occurred within the United States at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute on April 16, 2007. As focus on safety on college and university campuses switched campuses, and investigations considering actions leaders at that Virginia Tech might have implemented towards improved safety, five factors of leadership in higher education can be considered as a guide that the President of Eastern Michigan University, as well as the Student Affairs leaders of EMU might have implemented to have avoided legal issues and avoided the highest fine placed on a university by failing to consider these factors. Five Leadership Factors for Consideration as Best Practice Having implemented five factors for consideration the case of Eastern Michigan University following the murder of Laura Dickinson may have assisted in providing a STAYING OUT OF COURT: FACTORS IN LEADERSHIP 6 guide for how leaders should act in regards to campus safety. In this section of this guidebook, readers will specifically review how following these five factors may assist future higher education or student affairs leaders in avoiding similar civil litigation and federal governmental fines, in this case cost Eastern Michigan University well over three million dollars. These five factors include: Avoiding unethical behaviors; hiring good people; establishing and following procedures; being up to date on current issue within profession and developing strong leadership skills as a professional within the field of higher education or student affairs. In the following pages, each factor will be recognized demonstrating how leaders at Eastern Michigan failed to adhere to these practices as well as suggestions for future leaders to implement in serving the various constituencies at a college or university campus. Avoiding Unethical Behaviors Ethics has been defined in many fashions as well as ethical behaviors are specifically addressed as certain professional standards within the varied professional organizations. For the layman, the general ethical principle guiding actions is the "golden rule," which tells us to do to others as you would want to have done unto you. Within the field of higher education and in particular, student affairs, many have identified practices that will best guide ethical conduct. The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) is one organization that is specifically related to the professional association for American university governing boards and chief administrative leaders. While it does not specifically list a code of ethical principles, the organizational website does however state as one of its purposes, " delivers programs and services that monitors issues that affect higher education and governance and provide STAYING OUT OF COURT: FACTORS IN LEADERSHIP 7 guidance for boards and campus leaders" (http:/www.agb.org/about agb) It appears that the most common ethical dilemma facing university presidents these days involves being arrested for driving under the influence. In researching ethical principles for university presidents, several recent arrests consisted of driving under the influence. For student affairs professionals, ethical principles are specifically cited and referred to in any strong higher educational preparation program as well as through the various student affairs national, regional and state professional organizations. College Student Educators International (ACPA) as well as Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) both list specific ethical and professional performance standards designed to guide the actions of its respective professional members. Both organizations viewpoints are steeped in five ethical principles established by Kitchener (1984) These ethical principles encourage professionals to actions to be cons