Crisis Response Plan

 

Central Michigan University

 

October 2007

 

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DEFINITION

A crisis, for the purposes of this response plan, is a significant event that threatens the well-being of one or more individuals or the University as a whole.

A crisis may include (but is not limited to) a natural disaster (fire, flood, tornado), a violent crime (such as an abduction/hostage situation, homicide, physical assault, sexual assault, armed robbery, bombing or bomb threat, stalking), health threat (communicable disease outbreak, chemical spill, radiological threat, or sudden contamination), civil disturbance, sudden or unexplained death (suicide, suspicious circumstances, accidental death), or other circumstances directly affecting the campus community (natural gas explosion, plane crash, train derailment).

GOALS

The University’s goals when a crisis occurs are to:

• Protect the human, physical and financial assets of the University.
• Respond quickly to immediate threats to the well-being of students, faculty, staff and visitors.
• Respond to the emotional as well as physical impacts of a crisis on survivors, family members, and the greater University community.
• Communicate openly, honestly and proactively with the University’s constituents, recognizing the importance of avoiding panic, speaking with one voice, and balancing individuals’ legal rights to privacy with the public’s need to know about the situation.
• Demonstrate through its management of the crisis that the University is maintaining responsible control of the situation, viewing each crisis as an opportunity to establish trust and build the University’s credibility and reputation.
• Coordinate the University’s crisis response with local, state, and national resources as appropriate.
• Initiate internal review of the crisis situation as appropriate.
• Ensure appropriate follow-through on commitments made during the crisis and, after the crisis has subsided, evaluate the University’s response in order to improve procedures.

CRISIS RESPONSE TEAM AND CRISIS CORE GROUP

The University has established a Crisis Response Team (CRT) that may be called together to develop and manage the institution’s response to a crisis. In addition, a Crisis Core Group (CCG), made up of a limited number of members of the CRT, also has been established.

The Associate Vice President for Public Relations and Marketing is responsible for coordinating the institutional response; however, the President, Vice Presidents, or any other member of the CRT may call upon any member of the CCG to call the team together if a crisis occurs. The CCG will determine which members from the CRT will be called upon to aid in the University’s response. Members of the team are considered to be on-call as needed (phone lists are available and maintained by the Office of CMU Police. They are:

Crisis Core Group (“CCG”)	Crisis Response Team (“CRT”)
VP/Finance and Administrative Services, CCG Chair Chief of Police/CMU Police AVP/Public Relations and Marketing Dean of Students	VP/Technology/CIO AVP/Facilities Management AVP/Residences and Auxiliary Services AVP/Human Resources Asst Dean/Director/Student Life Director/Counseling Center Director/Health Services Director/Risk Management and Insurance Others as appropriate (i.e., legal counsel)

CRISIS RESPONSE

Policies and procedures: The University has a number of policies and procedures in place to respond to specific crisis situations. For example, CMU Police has procedures to respond to reports of crime, the Counseling Center has procedures for responding to students in emotional distress, Facilities Management has a disaster plan for responding to natural disasters, and Residence Life has plans for responding to events in residence halls. While most of these plans outline procedures for immediate responses to events, they should be viewed as part of a larger, coordinated University response to a crisis.

Assembling the response team:  As a crisis occurs, offices will use existing plans to provide immediate response to protect the well-being of students, faculty, staff and visitors. A member of the CRT will contact a CCG member as soon as he or she becomes aware of the crisis. Together they will determine the need to assemble the CRT.  The first response to a crisis, aside from initial emergency aide, should be to consult with others before initiating a response.
The CCG member will:

• Assemble the CRT. Responsibilities of the team are outlined below.
• Designate a Crisis Coordinator as appropriate. The coordinator will work closely with the CCG to respond to the situation or will assume full responsibility for the coordination of services and activities.
• Notify the President and appropriate Vice Presidents as soon as possible and keep them informed. The President is responsible for communicating with the Board of Trustees if deemed necessary.
• Convene meetings to coordinate services and facilitate communications so that all needs are met efficiently.
• Convene a meeting of pertinent individuals to evaluate the adequacy of response to the crisis.
• Manage communication about the crisis with University constituencies in accordance with the Public Relations and Marketing office’s emergency communications plan.

Team responsibilities: The assembled CRT will:

• Gather and share information about the event.
• Separate and clarify issues; define terms; identify additional information needed.
• Determine overall University responses/positions to the event.
• Identify individuals or groups affected by the event.
• Plan appropriate responses for each group.
• Assign responsibility for carrying out plans.
• Recommend initiation of internal investigation of incident.

A checklist outlining examples of these activities is included in this document. This list is intended to provide focus for discussion during a highly pressurized situation and should not be considered a limit to potential responses. Some members of the team will automatically assume certain responsibilities based upon the nature of their positions. The Dean of Students, for example, will oversee the direct care and service to students and families who are closely involved in a crisis.

Residence Life: Special procedures to address incidents isolated to residence halls follow:

• The Residence Hall Director will contact a Counselor in Residence or the Counseling Center Counselor on call and the appropriate Assistant Director of Residence Life.
• The Associate Vice President for Residences and Auxiliary Services or a designee will notify the Dean of Students and/or the Associate Vice President for Public Relations and Marketing to notify them of the situation. Depending on the nature of the crisis, they may elect to assemble the CRT.
• The Residence Life staff will notify relevant offices on campus.
• The Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Residences and Auxiliary Services or a designee will determine appropriate follow-up meetings, which may consist of debriefing or be therapeutic in nature.

Student Life: When an incident is isolated to a Registered Student Organization, the adviser or president of the organization will contact the Student Life staff member assigned as the organization's contact. The Student Life staff member will contact the Assistant Dean/Director of Student Life, who will contact the Dean of Students. The Assistant Dean/Director of Student Life and Dean of Students will determine whether additional notification of members of the CRT is appropriate.

Related Websites:  The following is a list of websites related to crisis and emergency preparedness at Central Michigan University.

http://www.cmich.edu/emergencyprep/
http://www.cmich.edu
http://www.healthservices.cmich.edu
http://www.police.cmich.edu

Crisis check-list

Gather information.  Define, for example:

• Nature of event
• Names, ages, phone numbers, addresses, status (i.e. student, staff) of those involved, including witnesses
• Date, time and location of event
• Nature/number of injuries
• Property damage/estimate of loss/nature of insurance
• Nature of immediate response (what has already happened)

Define issues.  Does the situation involve, for example:

• Controlled substances
• Race
• International/overseas student
• Gender/sexual orientation
• Guns
• Arson
• Security
• Safety
• Sexual/other assault
• Prominent student/staff

Determine additional information needed.  For example:

• What policies, procedures, educational programs are in place to address the issues (e.g.,student code, sexual assault awareness programs)?

Determine the need to assemble the CRT.  For example:   

• CCG and CRT member(s) will consult and determine the need to assemble the CRT
• Assemble CRT
• Designate a Crisis Coordinator
• Include local, state and federal representation, if appropriate

Define overall institutional response.

• Prepare statement if appropriate

Identify affected groups and groups needing information.  For example:

• Survivors
• Survivors’ family, friends, roommates
• Students
• Faculty and staff
• Community members
• Media
• Prospective students, families
• Legislators, local, state and federal government agencies
• Trustees
• Alumni and donors

Define response actions and assign responsibilities.  For example:

• Contact survivor(s)
• Contact survivors’ family, friends, roommates
• Free phone calls home
• Extension of academic and fee deadlines
• Expanded escort service on and off campus
• Meeting with registered student organizations
• Grief counseling
• Ensure basic needs are met
• Special housing arrangements
• Cancellation of events
• Letters to families/alumni/donors
• Rumor-control hotline
• Increased security
• Closing facilities
• News conference

Other considerations.  For example:

• Use of call list established with University’s emergency closing policy
• Sites for managing crisis and meeting with media in relation to crisis scene
• Special security, telecommunications, computer or equipment needs
• Coordinate with local, state and federal agencies, if appropriate

Debriefing and self-evaluation.

• Assemble CRT
• Initiate internal review of the response to the crisis situation
• Reflect on the experience and discuss strengths and areas for improvement
• Identify the most important gaps and outline concrete, short-term plans to address these    gaps
• Develop short- and long-term plans for all of the gaps identified
• Ensure follow-through on commitments made during the crisis and subsequent to the crisis

 

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