Talking Stick - September/October 2010 - 26

PRovIDIng thE ESSEntIAlS
identifying and preparing essential services providers long before an incident occurs (Committee on Education and Labor, 2007). Essential student services are defined as offices, departments, and personnel leveraged in responding to crisis situations. While some essential services focus on immediate crisis management, other student services attend to the healing and recovery process. Essential student services may vary slightly depending on institutional structure, demographics, and culture. When determining the function and impact of essential services in crisis situations, it is important that toward healing and recovery; however, when the aftereffect of a mass campus shooting escalates, the heightened demand for staff expertise and time intensifies. For that reason, attention must be given to how essential services providers respond to unfolding events and their impact on staff members. Directors must be cognizant of fellow employees’ emotional states, be sensitive to their personal needs, be supportive and attentive, and respond appropriately. This awareness must also include paraprofessionals, particularly undergraduate and graduate student staff members. Many student affairs departments dining. These areas represent a variety of configurations including residence halls, on-campus apartments, university-owned houses, and in some cases Greek-letter facilities. In addition to student residents, housing and dining might maintain summer conference operations that serve thousands of nonstudent residents. Residential life staff members must be thoroughly trained for service provider roles. During a crisis, residential living should provide safety and security, furnish meals, offer activities and programs, and supply other resources crucial to healing and recovery. Security priorities require collaborative partnerships with campus police or other law enforcement agencies. Safety-check protocols should require limited building access, periodic walk-throughs, strict adherence to guest policies, and communication updates. Student residents would benefit from updates through departmental Web sites, e-mail, text messages, signage/ posters, and hall/floor meetings. Creating a partnership with the campus counseling center and religious organizations in advance will enable the unit to anticipate ongoing healing and recovery initiatives. In this regard, temporary counseling centers within the residential communities provide vital support. A generally accepted practice on most college campuses is that the counseling center responds to crisis situations, and team members are deployed to strategic locations (see chapter 4). Furthermore, members of the clergy with pastoral or counseling training would offer crucial resources and support as well. University officials might also request and encourage students to vacate the college campus until an incident has been resolved. Unfortunately, many students living on campus may view residential housing as their permanent home; they may even lack the necessary resources to depart. In addition, while most residential housing follows the traditional academic calendar, students

In thE DAyS followIng A CAmPuS CRISIS, It IS ImPoRtAnt to gAugE EmPloyEES’ EmotIonAl StAtE to EnSuRE thAt thEy ARE READy to REtuRn to woRk. SomE StAff mEmbERS mIght vIEw DIRECt InvolvEmEnt AnD EngAgEmEnt AS ContRIbutIng to thE hEAlIng AnD RECovERy PRoCESS.

student affairs leadership provide general guidelines for offices, units, and personnel. Such guidelines may already exist and could be internal departmental policies. A centralized essential services policy for a division outlines a comprehensive distribution and communication plan that permits staff members to know in advance what roles they will play during a crisis (Zdziarski et al., 2007). While essential services directors find themselves responding to departmental policies and procedures, they might be called upon to support broader institutional needs. Managing crisis events might even require that staff members assume leadership roles and responsibilities that go beyond their job descriptions. Student affairs professionals manage programs and resources that often help to move the campus community beyond tragedy and
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have student employees who manage daily operations. In the days following a campus crisis, it is important to gauge employees’ emotional state to ensure that they are ready to return to work. Some staff members might view direct involvement and engagement as contributing to the healing and recovery process. Plans that offer a variety of opportunities for all levels and types of staff to contribute in a meaningful way should be developed, and rotating schedules and intentional breaks, especially for staff in high demand, should also be included (Duncan & Miser, 2000).

Housing and Dining
During a crisis, the housing and dining unit provides essential services that residents find reassuring. Housing and dining often comprises three functional areas: residential life, residential operations, and residential

Talking Stick - September/October 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - September/October 2010