Tips for responding to crises on campus
Via the POD Network comes this list of resources for responding to crises on campus. Included are a couple of full-text PDF’s from To Improve the Academy, In the Eye of the Storm: Students’ Perceptions of Helpful Faculty Actions Following a Collective Tragedy, and The Day After: Faculty Behavior in Post-September 11, 2001, Classes. Based on those resources, I sent out an email to faculty explaining the importance of acknowledging the Virginia Tech tragedy in class and shared the following five strategies for doing so.
- observe a moment of silence
- dedicate time for discussion
- share an inspirational passage
- provide students with information about counseling services on campus
- offer to discuss class material later
